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Application of alpha particle transport to the modelization of efficiency curves in proportional counters

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Abstract

The dependence of efficiency of a gas-flow proportional counter with respect to the source thickness and α-particle energy was evaluated using the code SRIM. Results for the mass-efficiency curves were evaluated for 209Po and 241Am in a substrate of NaNO3. The results revealed good agreement with a linear and a hyperbolic dependence for low and high thickness sources, respectively. However, some deviations were found for very thin thicknesses, which can be explained by taking into account scattering effects. A function is proposed for predicting the dependence of efficiency with α-particle energy in the range from 4 to 8 MeV.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to the Gobierno de Extremadura (Projects GRU09011 and GR10160) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Project TIN2012–35632–C02–02) for financial support. We also thank Dr. T. Semkow for his comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28933, Móstoles-Madrid, Spain

    A. Fernández Timón

  2. Departamento de Física, Universidad de Extremadura, 06006, Badajoz, Spain

    M. Jurado Vargas

  3. Physics Dept., United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, 21402, USA

    J. F. Ziegler

Authors
  1. A. Fernández Timón
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  2. M. Jurado Vargas
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  3. J. F. Ziegler
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Correspondence to A. Fernández Timón.

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Fernández Timón, A., Jurado Vargas, M. & Ziegler, J.F. Application of alpha particle transport to the modelization of efficiency curves in proportional counters. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 302, 297–302 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3205-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3205-z

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