Determination of mass attenuation coefficient by numerical absorption calibration with Monte-Carlo simulations at 59.54 keV

D Degrelle (1) , C Mavon (1) , J.-E Groetz (1)

1 LCE - Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249)

This study presents a numerical method in order to determine the mass attenuation coefficient of a sample with an unknown chemical composition at low energy. It is compared with two experimental methods : a graphic method and a transmission method. The method proposes to realise a numerical absorption calibration curve to process experimental results. Demineralised water with known mass attenuation coefficient (0.2066 cm 2 .g −1 at 59.54 keV) is chosen to confirm the method. 0.1964 ± 0.0350 cm 2 .g −1 is the average value determined by the numerical method, that is to say less than 5% relative deviation compared to more than 47% for the experimental methods.

Mots clés: Mass attenuation coefficient; Gamma spectrometry; Self-absorption; Monte-Carlo method; Transmission geometry

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]

D Degrelle, C Mavon, J.-E Groetz. Determination of mass attenuation coefficient by numerical absorption calibration with Monte-Carlo simulations at 59.54 keV. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2016, 816, pp.47-52. ⟨10.1016/j.nima.2016.01.075⟩. ⟨hal-01315381⟩