Range of recoil atoms in isotropic stopping materials

Abstract

A calculation of the stopping power, range, and range straggling of low energetic atoms (E≲1 MeV) is reported. The computation applied the biatomic repulsive potential of Firsov and thus had to be carried out numerically. The results, however, are presented in an analytical form. — Experimental checks were performed with recoil atoms. 96 keV Ra-224 atoms from the α-decay of Th-228 were used to measure the range distributions in several light gases. — The fast neutron induced reactions, such as (n, p)-or (n, α)-reactions, led to recoils of higher energies (up to more than 1 MeV). Their mean ranges in polycrystalline metals or amorphous oxide layers could be obtained by measuring the fraction of radioactive recoils which had left the target surface. — The experimental data are in good agreement with the theory, except at the highest energies where the observed ranges are slightly larger than predicted.