Interaction of

Radiation with
Matter
 Nature of Radiation
Electromagnetic radiation
Nature of Matter
Interaction of Radiation with matter

Contents
Nature of Radiation
The term radiation applies to the emission and propagation of energy through space or a material medium.

Types of Radiation:
• Electromagnetic radiation
• Particulate radiation
Particulate Radiation:
• Refers to the energy propagated by travelling corpuscles which have a definite rest mass, definite momentum and a
definite position at any instant.
• Elementary atomic particles: electron, proton and neutron.
• Positron, neutrino and mesons are subatomic particles.
Electromagnetic radiation:
❖ Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a form of energy propagated through free
space or through a material medium in the form of electromagnetic waves.
(travels through a vacuum at speed of light 3 × 108 m/s)

❖ EM radiation is so-named because it has electric and magnetic fields that

simultaneously oscillate in planes mutually perpendicular to each other and to
the direction of propagation through space.

❖ Electromagnetic radiation has the dual nature:

• wave properties
• particulate (photon) properties
3. Wavelength, frequency and energy:
Electromagnetic radiation exhibits properties of a wave depending on its energy:
Wavelength (λ): a measure of the distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next wave (meters).
Amplitude: Maximum height of the wave.
Frequency (𝑓): the number of waves that pass a given point per second (Hertz, Hz)

𝑐
𝐸 = ℎ𝜈 = ℎ
λ
Radiowaves:
• Low end of the spectrum.
MRI:
The nuclei of hydrogen atoms are magnetic, when placed in a strong
magnetic field, the nuclei will absorb and reemit radio waves of particular
frequency.
Through processing of these emitted radio waves, images can be
constructed.
• Does not ionize atoms.
Microwaves:
• A microwave generator is used to create microwaves.
• Hit the atoms of the food → excess energy.
• The energy causes vibration of the atoms and molecules.
• The atoms will then release the excess energy as heat → temperature increases.
• Does not ionize atoms.
Infrared Radiation
• Signal sent from the television remote to change channels.
• Send information between portable devices.
• Does not ionize atoms.

Visible light:
• The colors visible to the human eye.
• White light consists of all of the colors visible to the human eye.
• For a particular color, the object is absorbing all the wavelengths of light except the one you see.
• Black color represents the absorption of all of the color wavelengths.
• Does not ionize atoms.

Ultraviolet Light
• Closer to X-rays and gamma rays.
• Tanning beds.
• Harmful
• Stimulates melanin production in the skin cells, causing damage to the melanocytes, resulting in cancer.
• Does not ionize atoms.
Nature of Matter
• The smallest indivisible part of an element is known as atoms.

• The atom is made up of the nuclei and orbital electrons.

• The nucleus contains: protons (positively charged) and neutrons (neutral).

• Electrons are negatively charged, and their number is equal to the number of protons → An atom is neutral.
• According to Niels Bohr, electrons revolve in specific orbits around the nucleus: K,L and M → energy levels.
• Energies refer to the potential energy of the electron:
❑ This energy depends upon the magnitude of the Coulomb forces of attraction between the nucleus and the orbital electrons.
❑ Higher the atomic number greater is this bonding energy.
❖ X-rays and γ-rays:
• Ionize atoms.
• Originate from a different source of energy.

❖ γ-rays:
• Originate in the nuclei of the atoms.
• Represents the excess energy the atom is giving off to reach a stable state.
• Nuclear medicine/radiation therapy.

❖ X-rays:
• Originate through interactions between electrons and atoms.
• Produced when fast moving electrons within the X-ray tube strike the atoms of the metal in its target.
• X-ray radiation therapy.
Ionization:
X-rays and gamma rays have the ability to ionize matter.
When a photon possess sufficient energy, it can remove electrons from the orbit of atoms during interaction → Ionization.
Dangerous in general and harmful to the patient if misused.
Damage molecules and DNA.
Cause chemical changes in cells.
Radiation Interaction:
When an X-ray or γ-ray beam passes through a medium, interactions occur between the photon and the matter and energy is
transferred to the medium.
Ejection of electrons from the atoms of the absorbing medium→ Ionization and Excitation of the atoms along their path.
Photon beam may undergo the following four processes:
• Attenuation: removal of radiation from the beam by the matter. It occurs due to scattering and absorption.
• Absorption: is the taking up of the energy from the beam by the irradiated material (radiobiological effects).
• Scattering: refers to a change in the direction of the photons and it contributes to both attenuation and absorption.
• Transmission: any photon, which does not suffer the above processes is transmitted.
Coherent Scattering: (Elastic Scattering, Rayleigh Scattering)
• Bound electrons are involved.
• X-rays passing close to the atom cause the bound electrons to
vibrate momentarily at a frequency equal to that of the
radiation.
• The emitted radiation has the same frequency in all directions.
• The energy is taken up from the beam and scattered in all
direction, none of the energy is absorbed → attenuation
without absorption.
• This interaction is important in X-ray crystallography.
• Since it involves bound electrons, it occurs more in higher
atomic number materials and also more with low energy
radiations (<10 keV).
Photoelectric effect :
An incident photon collides with an inner–shell electron of the
absorbing medium, resulting in total absorption of the incident
photon.

During this process, a complete transfer of the photon energy to a

bound orbital electron occurs, creating a vacancy with the ejection of
an energetic photoelectron from one of the atomic shells whilst the
photon itself completely disappears .
The recoil electron escapes its orbit with KE equals to the difference
between the incident photon energy and the binding energy of the
electron:
Photoelectric effect :
• The vacancy in the ionized (excited) atom is then filled by means of
an electronic transition from a higher energy level of the atom
(atomic relaxation).
• This creates another vacancy, which, in turn, is filled by an electron
from an even lower binding energy shell→ an electron cascade from
outer to inner shells occurs .
• The deexcitation energy can be carried off with the emission of
characteristic x-rays, or in some cases, the emission of Auger
electrons, which are monoenergetic electrons produced by the
absorption of characteristic x-rays internally by the atom.

Remarks:
• Photoelectric absorption is the most probable mechanism of an x-ray photon having energy slightly higher than the
binding energy of atomic electrons and is most important for photons below 100 keV if the absorbing medium is water or
biological tissue.
• In high Z materials such as lead, photoelectric absorption is important for photons up to about 1 MeV.
• For photoelectric absorption to occur, the energy of the incident photon must be greater than or equal to the binding
energy of the electron with which it interacts.
• Photoelectric absorption can take place with electrons in the K, L, M, or N shells and cannot take place with free electrons.
• For sufficiently energetic photons, the most probable origin of the photoelectron is the most tightly bound K-shell of the
atom.
 Compton Scattering:
• Compton scattering (incoherent scattering) is the most common type of inelastic scattering, and represents a photon
with relatively high energy interacting with an essentially 'free and stationary' orbital electron.
• The incident photon imparts some of its KE to the electron, ejecting it from its orbit as a recoil/Compton electron, whilst
the photon is scattered through some scattering angle 𝜃 with respect to its original direction.

• The scattered x-ray photon is less energetic → it may

undergo another interaction ( photoelectric or coherent
interaction).
• The recoil electron produced by the Compton process may
be sufficiently energetic to produce secondary excitations
and ionizations before coming to rest. In the case of
maximum energy transfer, the recoil electron travels
forward and the photon is backscattered 180° in the
opposite direction.
• The energy of the scattered photon ℎ𝑣′ and
the kinetic energy of the recoil electron 𝐸𝑘
are:
Pair and triple productions:
During pair production, an X-ray photon with energy greater than 1.022 MeV passes near the nucleus of the atom and
interacts strongly with the nuclear electromagnetic field in such a manner that its energy is converted into matter.
The photon disappears and an electron (𝑒 −) positron (𝑒 +) pair with a combined 𝐾𝐸 equal to ℎ𝑣 − 2𝑚0 𝑐 2 is produced in the
nuclear Coulomb field:
𝛾 → 𝑒− + 𝑒+
When pair production occurs in the field of an orbital electron, the effect is referred to as triplet production (threshold energy
2.044 MeV), and the electron – positron pair and the orbital electron share the available energy.
Exercise : 1

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Nuclear Medicine Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students – Chapter 1 – Slide 23/101
Exercise : 2

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Nuclear Medicine Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students – Chapter 1 – Slide 34/101
Exercise : 3

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Nuclear Medicine Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students – Chapter 1 – Slide 37/101