[en] Present contribution deals with the theoretical description of the conditions favoring the occurrence of single fast electron elastic scattering in solids, leading to the displacement of atoms from their crystalline sites. Firstly, the Moliere-Bethe-Goudsmit-Saunderson theory of Multiple Electron Scattering is applied, determining the limiting angle θ_l over which the single electron elastic scattering prevails over the multiple one, leading to the evaluation of the total macroscopic cross-section for single electron elastic scattering on the basis of the Mott-Rutherford differential cross-section. On the basis of single electron elastic scattering by atoms in the solid matrix, it was determined the relative number of Atom Displacements produced by the Gamma Radiation as a primary act, as well as the energy and linear momentum of the ejected atoms. The statistical distributions of single electron elastic scattering and of those inducing Atom Displacements at different electron initial energies in comparison with the others electron inelastic scattering channels are discussed, where the statistical sampling methods on the basis of the rejection one where applied simulating different practical situations. (Full text)

[en] Present work concerns with the implementation of a Monte Carlo based calculation algorithm describing particularly the occurrence of Atom Displacements induced by the Gamma Radiation interactions at a given target material. The Atom Displacement processes were considered only on the basis of single elastic scattering interactions among fast secondary electrons with matrix atoms, which are ejected from their crystalline sites at recoil energies higher than a given threshold energy. The secondary electron transport was described assuming typical approaches on this matter, where consecutive small angle scattering and very low energy transfer events behave as a continuously cuasi-classical electron state changes along a given path length delimited by two discrete high scattering angle and electron energy losses events happening on a random way. A limiting scattering angle was introduced and calculated according Moliere-Bethe-Goudsmit-Saunderson Electron Multiple Scattering, which allows splitting away secondary electrons single scattering processes from multiple one, according which a modified McKinley-Feshbach electron elastic scattering cross section arises. This distribution was statistically sampled and simulated in the framework of the Monte Carlo Method to perform discrete single electron scattering processes, particularly those leading to Atom Displacement events. The possibility of adding this algorithm to present existing open Monte Carlo code systems is analyze, in order to improve their capabilities. (Author)

[en] The calculation results of the atom displacement distribution induced by gamma radiation in the superconducting material YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x are presented. Firstly, a direct calculation procedure for the atom displacement distribution inside a given material is introduced, starting from the application of the energy flux distribution values of secondary electrons, formerly calculated using the Monte Carlo method based code system MCNP-4C. Finally, calculation results of the atom displacement distribution, regarding the occupied oxygen crystalline sites, are presented for different incident gamma radiation energies, where an atom displacement threshold energy value of 20 eV was assigned to O(1-3) sites, while a value of 3.45 eV was used for the copper-oxygen chain sites at the basal plane. According to the present calculations, a predominating atom displacement rate at copper-oxygen chain sites was obtained. On the other hand, nearly linear correlations among atom displacements and energy deposition profiles were also found. (copyright 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

[en] Using the code system MCNP-X, based on the Monte Carlo statistical method, a comparative study of some properties of the crystalline silicon and CZT semiconducting detectors was carried out. This program, conceived to simulate the transport of several types of particles through matter, allowed the study of spatial distribution of the radiation energy deposition in detectors and evaluate the devices quantum efficiency. A quantitative estimation of the number of charge carriers generated in active zone of the detector was also presented. The results of the displacement cross sections calculation and the devices resistance to the radiacional damage are discussed. (Author)

[en] In present paper the dependence of the displacement cross sections of the different species of atoms in the a-Si:H structure, with the energy of the secondary electrons generated by the X-rays of the typical energies using in medical imaging applications, was calculated using the Mott-McKinley-Feshbach approach. It was verified that for electron energies higher than 1.52 keV it is possible the occurrence of hydrogen atoms displacements, while for the silicon atoms the threshold energy is 126 keV. These results were compared with those obtained for similar detectors but developed with crystalline silicon. With the use of the mathematical simulation of the radiation transport in the matter, the energy spectrum of the secondary electrons was calculated in order to estimate the number of atomic displacements, which take place in the semiconducting amorphous device in working regime. The spatial distribution of the dpa in the detectors volume, as well as its behavior with the depth in the work region are presented and discussed in the text. (Author)

[en] During the earliest tests of a free-air ionization chamber a poor response to the X-rays emitted by several sources was observed. Then, the Monte Carlo simulation of X-rays transport in matter was employed in order to evaluate chamber behavior as X-rays detector. The photons energy deposition dependence with depth and its integral value in all active volume were calculated. The obtained results reveal that the designed device geometry is feasible to be optimized

[en] The present work reports the results of a first study of elemental composition in airborne particulate matter (fine and coarse) collected at the Municipality of Centro Habana, Havana City, Cuba, using the PIXE technique. At present, there is not any information available about element contents in airborne particulate from this region. A five months sampling campaign was carried out, collecting the samples under an air flux of 20 l/min with a Gent SFU Sampler equipped with a system which allows the aerosol collection in both size fractions simultaneously. A total of 144 aerosol samples were collected. For the PIXE analysis, the samples were irradiated by 2.0 MeV energy protons from a 2 MV Tandetron Accelerator. A total of 14 elements (S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Pb) were consistently detected with minimum detection limits from 1 ng/m³ to 10 ng/m³ for most of the elements. Enrichment factors were also calculated for both fractions in order to identify the natural and anthropogenic group of elements. The quantitative results obtained have revealed important information that has been used in a first attempt to understand and to characterize the atmospheric pollution of this area. (author)

[en] The results of the calculations of the displacements per atom distribution induced by the gamma irradiation up to 15 MeV on YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x superconducting slabs are presented. Firstly, a calculation procedure for the displacement cross sections and the displacement per atom distributions was applied using the Monte Carlo simulation through the MCNPX code system. Then, based on this algorithm, the displacement per atom in-depth distributions were calculated starting from the energy flux distributions obtained from the simulation process, taking into account the contribution from each atom, obtaining a predominance of the Cu-O₂ planar sites over yttrium and barium atoms and more specifically the oxygen atoms predominate at low energies and the copper atoms at higher energies. Finally, the linear correlation observed between the displacement per atom distributions and energy deposition profiles at each incident energy was analyzed

[en] The contribution from positrons to the displacements per atom (dpa) distribution induced by the gamma irradiation on YBCO superconducting slabs is presented. The procedure implemented previously by the authors was adapted to take into account the contribution from positrons to dpa induced by the gamma radiation. The results show that, when positrons are considered in the atom displacement process, the total dpa almost doubles at 10 MeV of incident gamma radiation. At that energy positrons contribute 7% more to the total dpa than electrons, although electrons maintain having the highest contribution up to about 8 MeV.

[en] The present work synthesizes the experimental results obtained in the characterization of 64 micro strips crystalline silicon detector designed for experiments in high energies physics, with the objective of studying its possible application in advanced medical radiography, specifically in digital mammography and angiography. The research includes the acquisition of two-dimensional radiography of a mammography phantom using the scanning method, and its comparison with similar images simulated mathematically for different X rays sources. The paper also shows the experimental radiography of two biological samples taken from biopsies of mammas, where it is possible to identify the presence of possible pathological lesions. The results reached in this work point positively toward the effective possibility of satisfactorily introducing those advanced detectors in medical digital imaging applications. (Author)