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Electron energy loss in radiation detection materials


EMSL Project ID
19847

Abstract

The proposed project will develop the capability at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to measure processes by which high energy electrons lose energy in solids and how that lost energy is converted into information carriers in gamma radiation detection materials. These measurements will validate key aspects of the three companion theoretical efforts to model the physical effects that are significant and/or dominant contributors to spectral peak broadening in both semiconductor and scintillation-based gamma-ray detectors. A key process in the energy cascade that underlies the operation of radiation detectors is conversion of plasmons into electron-hole pairs and heat, where plasmons are a collective motion of the valence electrons in a solid. A fast electron, produced for example by a photo-electric event or Compton scattering of a gamma-ray, has 75-90% of its energy pass through plasmons in the energy cascade down to heat and signal. However, there appears to be no measurements of the average and variance of the number of electron-hole pairs produced by plasmon decay in solids. This project will measure electron energy loss cross sections and the distribution of electron-hole pairs produced by plasmon decay. These results will greatly improve understanding of electron energy loss, and plasmon decay and the material properties that influence it, which will provide important insights into the material properties required for high resolution gamma ray detectors.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2006-08-01
End Date
2007-10-04
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Bret Cannon
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Team Members

April Carman
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Ponnusamy Nachimuthu
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Chongmin Wang
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory