A comparison between the codes SRIM and AlfaMC in the Monte Carlo simulation of alpha-particle backscattering

Abstract

The well-known code Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) and the more recent code AlfaMC were used in this work to evaluate the backscattering corrections required in the measurement of alpha particle sources. The differences found in the energy and angular distribution of backscattered particles for point sources mounted on backings of aluminum, silver, and platinum, were analyzed taking into account the models of multiple scattering included in each code. The lateral dispersion of alpha particles and the backscattering coefficients obtained with SRIM were in all the cases some greater than those derived with AlfaMC.

Alfonso Fernandez Timon

Associate Professor

Alfonso Fernández Timón is Associate Professor and one of the senior researchers of the Optimization Algorithms Research Group GRAFO at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Previously he was a fellow of the Metrological Stations Network and of the Radiological Surveillance Plan of the CSN at the University of Extremadura. His research interests range from the application of metaheuristics to solve combinatorial optimization problems to nuclear radiation metrology.