CONDUCTIVITY OF ELECTRONS IN GASES WEAKLY IONIZED BY X RAYS

1962 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1528-1536 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Carruthers

Results are reported for oxygen and air at 1–10 mm Hg pressure irradiated by 100-kvp X rays at about 4300 roentgens/hour. Measurement of both terms of the complex conductivity of the gas at 50 Mc/s by a bridge technique, with modulation of the X-ray source at 120 c/s, gives data on the collision frequency v, the electron density n, and the dependence of collision frequency on the electron energy u ev. The limit of sensitivity is about one electron per cc. For dry air the data agree well with recent drift tube results by Pack and Phelps represented by v(u) = 1.38 × 10−7N(air) u sec−1, where N(air) is the air density in molecules/cc. For O2 fair agreement with v(u) = 7 × 10−8N(O2)u sec−1 is observed, but the power of u may be greater than unity. The electron densities are consistent with three-body attachment of the electrons to neutral O2 molecule with the coefficient 2.8 × 10−30 cm6/sec reported by Chanin et al. for thermal electrons.

Some of these could also be operated in the energy range above lOMeV for experiments designed to determine at which energy level radioactivity can be induced in the irradiated medium. A linac with a maximum energy of 25 MeV was commissioned for the U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Labora­ tories in 1963. Its beam power was 6.5 kW at an electron energy of 10 MeV, 18 kW at 24 MeV. Assuming 100% efficiency, a 1-kW beam can irradiate 360 kg of product with a dose of 10 kGy/h. The efficiency of electron accelerators is higher than that of gamma sources because the electron beam can be directed at the product, whereas the gamma sources emit radiation in all directions. An efficiency of 50% is a realistic assumption for accelerator facilities. With that and 6.5 kW beam power an accelerator of the type built for the Natick laboratories can process about 1.2t/h at 10 kGy. In Odessa in the former Soviet Union, now in the Ukraine, two 20-kW accelerators with an energy of 1.4 MeV installed next to a grain elevator went into operation in 1983. Each accelerator has the capacity to irradiate 200 t of wheat per hour with a dose of 200 Gy for insect disinfestation. This corresponds to a beam utilization of 56% (9). In France, a facility for electron irradiation of frozen deboned chicken meat commenced operation at Berric near Vannes (Brittany) in late 1986. The purpose of irradiation is to improve the hygienic quality of the meat by destroying salmonella and other disease-causing (pathogenic) microorganisms. The electron beam accelerator is a 7 MeV/10 kW Cassitron built by CGR-MeV (10). An irradiation facility of this type is shown in Figure . Because of their relatively low depth of penetration electron beams cannot be used for the irradiation of animal carcasses, large packages, or other thick materials. However, this difficulty can be overcome by converting the electrons to x-rays. As indicated in Figure 9, this can be done by fitting a water-cooled metal plate to the scanner. Whereas in conventional x-ray tubes the conversion of electron energy to x-ray energy occurs only with an efficiency of about %, much higher efficiencies can be achieved in electron accelerators. The conversion efficiency depends on the material of the converter plate (target) and on the electron energy. Copper converts 5-MeV electrons with about 7% efficiency, 10-MeV electrons with 12% efficiency. A tungsten target can convert 5-MeV electrons with about 20%, 10-MeV electrons with 30% efficiency. (Exact values depend on target thickness.) In contrast to the distinct gamma radiation energy emitted from radionuclides and to the monoenergetic electrons produced by accelerators, the energy spectrum of x-rays is continuous from the value equivalent to the energy of the bombarding electrons to zero. The intensity of this spectrum peaks at about one-tenth of the maximum energy value. The exact location of the intensity peak depends on the thickness of the converter plate and on some other factors. As indicated in Figure

1995 ◽  
pp. 40-40

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 792-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Merrill ◽  
Victor Montenegro ◽  
Michael F. Gazley ◽  
Leandro Voisin

As altitude increases, air density decreases, and the physics of X-rays being transmitted through air mean that the transmission of low-energy X-rays increases and accordingly the transmission effectiveness of low-atomic weight elements (e.g. Mg, Al, and Si) also increases. Here we assess the performance of pXRF units across a range of pressures.


Author(s):  
D. E. Johnson ◽  
M. Isaacson

The use of electron energy loss spectroscopy (ELS) for elemental analysis of thin films holds considerable promise. This technique has definite advantages in comparison with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) for two fundamental reasons. First, the detection sensitivity is independent of the fluorescence yield, since for each inner shell excitation an energy loss electron exists as opposed to only a finite probability that an excitation will result in a X-ray emitted. Second, the information carrying energy loss electrons are contained in a small solid angle about 0° scattering angle as opposed to the resulting X-rays which are emitted uniformly over 4Π steradians. This means that a large fraction of the energy loss electrons can be detected (up to ∼90%) compared to only a small fraction (∼1%) of the emitted X-rays with an EDS system.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1158-1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Schiwietz ◽  
D. Kühn ◽  
A. Föhlisch ◽  
K. Holldack ◽  
T. Kachel ◽  
...  

A comprehensive investigation of the emission characteristics for electrons induced by X-rays of a few hundred eV at grazing-incidence angles on an atomically clean Cu(111) sample during laser excitation is presented. Electron energy spectra due to intense infrared laser irradiation are investigated at the BESSY II slicing facility. Furthermore, the influence of the corresponding high degree of target excitation (high peak current of photoemission) on the properties of Auger and photoelectrons liberated by a probe X-ray beam is investigated in time-resolved pump and probe measurements. Strong electron energy shifts have been found and assigned to space-charge acceleration. The variation of the shift with laser power and electron energy is investigated and discussed on the basis of experimental as well as new theoretical results.


1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
E. Hildner

AbstractOver the last twenty years, orbiting coronagraphs have vastly increased the amount of observational material for the whitelight corona. Spanning almost two solar cycles, and augmented by ground-based K-coronameter, emission-line, and eclipse observations, these data allow us to assess,inter alia: the typical and atypical behavior of the corona; how the corona evolves on time scales from minutes to a decade; and (in some respects) the relation between photospheric, coronal, and interplanetary features. This talk will review recent results on these three topics. A remark or two will attempt to relate the whitelight corona between 1.5 and 6 R⊙to the corona seen at lower altitudes in soft X-rays (e.g., with Yohkoh). The whitelight emission depends only on integrated electron density independent of temperature, whereas the soft X-ray emission depends upon the integral of electron density squared times a temperature function. The properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) will be reviewed briefly and their relationships to other solar and interplanetary phenomena will be noted.


Author(s):  
R. H. Duff

A material irradiated with electrons emits x-rays having energies characteristic of the elements present. Chemical combination between elements results in a small shift of the peak energies of these characteristic x-rays because chemical bonds between different elements have different energies. The energy differences of the characteristic x-rays resulting from valence electron transitions can be used to identify the chemical species present and to obtain information about the chemical bond itself. Although these peak-energy shifts have been well known for a number of years, their use for chemical-species identification in small volumes of material was not realized until the development of the electron microprobe.


Author(s):  
E. A. Kenik ◽  
J. Bentley

Cliff and Lorimer (1) have proposed a simple approach to thin foil x-ray analy sis based on the ratio of x-ray peak intensities. However, there are several experimental pitfalls which must be recognized in obtaining the desired x-ray intensities. Undesirable x-ray induced fluorescence of the specimen can result from various mechanisms and leads to x-ray intensities not characteristic of electron excitation and further results in incorrect intensity ratios.In measuring the x-ray intensity ratio for NiAl as a function of foil thickness, Zaluzec and Fraser (2) found the ratio was not constant for thicknesses where absorption could be neglected. They demonstrated that this effect originated from x-ray induced fluorescence by blocking the beam with lead foil. The primary x-rays arise in the illumination system and result in varying intensity ratios and a finite x-ray spectrum even when the specimen is not intercepting the electron beam, an ‘in-hole’ spectrum. We have developed a second technique for detecting x-ray induced fluorescence based on the magnitude of the ‘in-hole’ spectrum with different filament emission currents and condenser apertures.


Author(s):  
R. F. Egerton

An important parameter governing the sensitivity and accuracy of elemental analysis by electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) or by X-ray emission spectroscopy is the signal/noise ratio of the characteristic signal.


Author(s):  
W. Brünger

Reconstructive tomography is a new technique in diagnostic radiology for imaging cross-sectional planes of the human body /1/. A collimated beam of X-rays is scanned through a thin slice of the body and the transmitted intensity is recorded by a detector giving a linear shadow graph or projection (see fig. 1). Many of these projections at different angles are used to reconstruct the body-layer, usually with the aid of a computer. The picture element size of present tomographic scanners is approximately 1.1 mm2.Micro tomography can be realized using the very fine X-ray source generated by the focused electron beam of a scanning electron microscope (see fig. 2). The translation of the X-ray source is done by a line scan of the electron beam on a polished target surface /2/. Projections at different angles are produced by rotating the object.During the registration of a single scan the electron beam is deflected in one direction only, while both deflections are operating in the display tube.


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