Application of alpha particle transport to the modelization of efficiency curves in proportional counters

Resumen

The dependence of efficiency of a gas-flow proportional counter with respect to the source thickness and α-particle energy was evaluated using the code SRIM. Results for the mass-efficiency curves were evaluated for 209Po and 241Am in a substrate of NaNO3. The results revealed good agreement with a linear and a hyperbolic dependence for low and high thickness sources, respectively. However, some deviations were found for very thin thicknesses, which can be explained by taking into account scattering effects. A function is proposed for predicting the dependence of efficiency with α-particle energy in the range from 4 to 8 MeV.

Alfonso Fernandez Timon

Profesor Titular de Universidad

Alfonso Fernández Timón es Profesor Titular de Universidad y unos de los investigadores seniors del Grupo de Investigación en Algoritmos de Optimización GRAFO de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Anteriormente fue Becario de la Red de Estaciones Metrológicas y del Plan de Vigilancia Radiológica del CSN en la Universidad de Extremadura. Sus lineas de investigación abarcan desde la aplicación de metaheurísticas para resolver problemas de optimización combinatoria hasta la metrología de radiaciones nucleares.