Measurement of Mass Attenuation Coefficients of Gamma Rays in Copper

Abstract

This study presents experimental method in order to determine the mass attenuation coefficient of a copper with different energy for 22 Na and 137 Cs sources . It is compared with two theoritical methods a graphic method and a transmission method . The method proposes to realise a numerical absorption calibration curve to process experimental results . The gamma-ray mass attenuation coefficients of copper absorber were determined experimentally at different gamma-ray energies and different copper thicknesses in order to investigate how the number of gamma photons and their energies affect the calculation of mass attenuation coefficients of the copper . The mass attenuation coefficients (µm) for copper(Cu) were measured in the γ -ray energy 22 Na, 137 Cs as sources . Well shielded detector (NaI (Tl) scintillation detector) was used to measure the intensities of the direct transmitted beams and any photon absorbed or scattered appreciably does not reach the detector if the detector is far away from the absorber . The measured values are compared with the theoretical values obtained by WINXCOM software