Nuclear activation techniques for measuring direct and backscattered components of intense bremsstrahlung pulses

J. A. Anderson, J. M. Carroll, K. N. Taylor, J. J. Carroll, M. J. Byrd, T. W. Sinor, C. B. Collins, F. J. Agee, D. Davis, G. A. Huttlin, K. G. Kerris, M. S. Litz, D. A. Whittaker, N. R. Pereira, S. G. Gorbics

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

High-voltage electron accelerators used for bremsstrahlung generation can produce intense pulses of radiation with different endpoint energies. The energy spectrum can be changed by varying the charging voltage or by softening the photons with Compton scattering in a low atomic number material. The high dose rate and the flexible spectrum capabilities of the Aurora accelerator have been used to investigate the potential for measuring the bremsstrahlung spectrum by photoactivation of nuclear isomeric states. Recent success in calibrating lower intensity sources has shown that gram-sized targets of isotopes, such as 115In, can be used to sample the incident X-rays at several discrete gateway energies. When irradiated at these energies the targets are excited to metastable states with lifetimes suitable for conventional counting after the flash.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1189-1192
Number of pages4
JournalNuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, B
Volume40-41
Issue numberPART 2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2 1989

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Instrumentation

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