Photon and electron interactions

BME 704 Radiation Therapy Devices

September 15, 2020

 Outline

X-ray interactions: coherent scattering,

photoelectric, compton, pair production etc.

Electrons created by photon interactions

Attenuation of photons

Relative importance of the different types of X-ray

interactions
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 Ionization

• Ionization (process)=a neutral atom acquires a positive or

negative charge, e.g. removal of an orbital electron

• electrons, positrons, alpha particles = directly ionizing

radiations

• neutrons, photons = indirectly ionizing radiations

3
 X-ray Interactions

• The most important basic interaction mechanisms:

– Coherent scattering
– Photoelectric effect
– Compton scattering
– Pair production

4
 1. Coherent Scattering

hν
• Direction of photon changes hν
• Photon does not lose energy

• Either single electron (Thomson) or atom as a whole

(Rayleigh) is excited…vibration emits a photon with the
same energy
• Responsible for <5% of interactions at diagnostic
energies
• Source of scattered photons

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 2. Photoelectric Effect
(Einstein 1905)

Auger electrons

Kα
Kβ Characteristic X-rays
Kγ

hν (photon)

Atom Photoelectron

Notice the incident photon is entirely absorbed!

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 2. Photoelectric Effect (Continued)

• Photon interacts with an inner shell electron

• All photon energy is absorbed
• Photoelectron ejected with energy equal to hν-EB
• EB is the binding energy
Material Binding Energy
(K shell)
Pb 88 keV
W 74 keV
Ca 4 keV
Soft tissue 0.5 keV

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 2. Photoelectric Effect (Continued)

• Binding energy depends on shell (K, L, M, N) from which

photoelectron is ejected and on atomic number of the atom

• Excited atom returns to ground state by emission of

characteristic radiation corresponding to electron transitions
to the K shell from: the L shell (Kα line); the M shell (Kβ
line); and N shell (Kγ line)

• Atom is left in ionized state

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 2. Photoelectric Effect (Continued)

• Photoelectron has little energy and limited range:

Photo-electron Energy Range in soft tissue

34 keV 0.023 mm
40 keV 0.034 mm
68 keV 0.070 mm
86 keV 0.108 mm
146 keV 0.180 mm

• Auger electron may be emitted if characteristic radiation

absorbed by inner shell electron

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 2. Photoelectric Effect (Continued)

• Probability of interaction increases when

hn » EB threshold hn ³ EB

• Mass attenuation coefficient (probability of interaction

per unit density per unit path length:
t Z3
µ
r (hv )3
• Z3 is exploited when using contrast materials BaSO4 mix
and Hypaque

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 Many atoms in a molecule: Zeff

[
Z = Z eff = a1 Z + a2 Z + ... + a j Z
1
n n
2 j]
n 1/ n

where :
ai = relative contribution to e density from species i
Z i = atomic number of species i
n » 3.5

- for H2O
• Each H contributes 1 electron
• O contributes 8 electrons
• Total 10 electrons
1
é 2 3.5 8 3.5 ù 3.5
Z eff =ê 1 + 8 ú = 7.5
ë10 10 û
11
Values for Zeff

Material Effective Z

Air 7.64

Fat 5.92

Water 7.42

Muscle 7.42

Bone 13.8

12
 2. Photoelectric Effect (Final)

• Main features relevant to radiology

– Characteristic radiation used as source of x-ray photons in

some x-ray tubes

– Photoelectric interaction of x-rays in patient provides good

contrast since no scattered photons

– Responsible for main component of dose to patient

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 3. Compton Scattering

Compton Electron
θ
hν (photon)
φ
hν’
(Scattered photon)
Atom

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 3. Compton Scattering (Continued)

• Incident photon interacts with an outer shell (free) electron

EB~0

• Scattered photon emerges from interaction

• Recoil (or Compton) electron is ejected with some momentum

• Amount of energy transferred to electron depends on

scattering angle of photon
Energy-angle relation:
1 hn hn
hn ¢ = hn where a = =
1 + a (1 - cos j ) m0 c 2
0.511
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 3. Compton Scattering (Continued)
θ
φ
Special cases:
• If θ=90° then photon is forward scattered (φ=0°) and little
energy is transferred to electron = Grazing hit

• If θ=0° then photon is back scattered (φ=180°) and

maximum energy is transferred to electron = Direct hit

• As hυ increases, φ tends to smaller values

• As hυ decreases, scatter is more isotropic

• Higher energy forward scatter decreases image quality

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 3. Compton Probability

• independent of atomic number, however is proportional to

number electron per gram:
NA
ne = Z
Aw

• ne decreases slowly with Z, but most materials (except H) can

be considered as having approx. the same ne
• Decreases as energy increases due to quantum and
relativistic effects

• Decreases as energy approaches binding energy because

then the photoelectric effect is getting the most probable
interaction
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 3. Compton Probability (Continued)

Material Density Atomic Electron Density

[g/cc] Number 1023 electrons/g
Air 0.00125 7.78 3.01

Fat 0.916 6.46 3.34

Water 1.000 7.51 3.34

Muscle 1.040 7.64 3.31

Bone 1.650 12.31 3.19

Aluminum 2.699 13 2.902

Lead 11.36 82 2.383

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 4. Pair Production

Atom
electron
hν=0.51 MeV

hν (photon)
>1.02 MeV

positron

hn = 1.022MeV + K.E.e + K.E.e

+ -
hν=0.51 MeV

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 4. Pair Production (Continued)

• Photon (energy > 1.022MeV) interacts with electric field of

nucleus and its energy is converted into mass by E=mc2

• An electron - positron pair is created (each with rest

E=0.511Mev) and emitted

• Positron decelerates and annihilates with an electron; reverse

process: mass is converted into energy

• Interaction probability proportional to electric field of nucleus

(Z) and increases with hυ

• Not important at diagnostic energies in tissues

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 CT and PET fusion

18F (FDG)

X-ray source

18F T1/2 = 110 min.

http://www.griffwason.com/scanner_ct.htm http://www.griffwason.com/pet_scanner.htm
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 Relative importance

Up to 50 keV: Photoelectric absorption is important

60 keV to 90 keV: Photoelectric and Compton are equally important
200 keV to 2 MeV: Compton absorption alone is present
5 MeV to 10 MeV: Pair production begins to be important
50 MeV to100 MeV: Pair production is the most important

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 Electron Interactions

• Energetic Compton recoil and photoelectrons travel through a

medium undergoing numerous scattering events through
various angles

• Electron may be viewed as continuously slowing

down…losing energy at a rate of 2 MeV per cm depth in
tissue

• Electrons may lose energy either by collisions (ionizations and

excitations) or by radiative losses (bremsstrahlung production)

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 Bremsstrahlung (braking radiation)

• Direct transformation of electron kinetic energy into X-

ray photon energy

Electron with Bremsstrahlung photon of

energy, E energy hν

Nucleus

Electron with • Moving electron undergoes a rapid change

energy E-hν of speed or direction (~1% of electrons at
100 keV)

• Production increases with electron energy,

and atomic number of nucleus.

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 Bremsstrahlung

Photon direction depends on Efficiency=9 x 10-10 Z V

• Target material
• Electron energy

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 Linear Energy Transfer (LET)

• Radiobiological scale use LET=amount of energy

released by a radioactive particle or wave over the
length of its track

• Units of LET are keV/μm

• Typical range 0.2 – 10 keV/μm electrons

• Alpha particle (helium nucleus) has much greater LET

(250 keV/ μm) since ionizes over a very short track.

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 Stopping Power

• Energy lost by electron per unit path length

dE
Sº = Sion + S rad
dx

Before After
Sion e-
e- e-
e- Bremsstrahlung
e- e-
Srad +Ze
+Ze

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Stopping Power Vs Energy

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Electrons In Water

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 Attenuation

• Definition: The reduction in the intensity (number of photons)

of an x-ray beam as it traverses matter

– Photons may be lost by absorption or deflection (scatter)

– Depends on:
• Photon Energy
• Properties of matter (atomic #, number of scattering or
absorbing elements)

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 Attenuation (Continued)

• Defining equation for linear attenuation coefficient:

Absorber

N photons N- dN photons
Detector

dx

dN
= - µ dx
N

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 Linear Attenuation Coefficient

• Solving equation relates number of photons N reaching

detector to thickness of absorber x:

(-µ x) (-µ x)
N = N 0e or I = I 0 e

• Units of μ are cm-1

• Mean Free Path is defined as 1/μ

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 Linear Attenuation Coefficient

Linear Attenuation Coefficients (in cm-1) for a range of

materials at gamma-ray energies

Absorber 100 keV 200 keV 500 keV

Air 0.000195 0.000159 0.000112
Water 0.167 0.136 0.097
Carbon 0.335 0.274 0.196
Aluminum 0.435 0.324 0.227
Iron 2.72 1.09 0.655
Copper 3.8 1.309 0.73
Lead 59.7 10.15 1.64

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 Mass Attenuation Coefficient

• Attenuation is proportional to number of scattering sites;

hence mass per volume element or density ρ (g/cm3)

• Divide out this proportional dependence

• Mass attenuation coefficient = μ/ρ

• Now:
- ( µ / r )( r x )
N=N e 0

• μ/ρ has units of cm2/g;

• ρx has units of g/cm2 and is called the radiological depth

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μ versus μ/ρ

photoelectric and Compton but ρ is

divided out

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 Half-value Layer (HVL)

• Thickness of material required to reduce incident number of

photons by half:

1
N = N 0 = N 0 e ( - µ HVL )
2
ln 2
so : HVL =
µ
( -0.693 x / HVL )
or : N = N 0 e
• Tenth-value layer may be similarly defined. It is used for
Radiation Protection purposes when designing shielding
around linear accelerators.
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 Half-value Layer (HVL)

Half Value Layers (in cm) for a range of materials at

gamma-ray energies of 100, 200 and 500 keV.

Absorber 100 keV 200 keV 500 keV

Air 3555 4359 6189
Water 4.15 5.1 7.15
Carbon 2.07 2.53 3.54
Aluminum 1.59 2.14 3.05
Iron 0.26 0.64 1.06
Copper 0.18 0.53 0.95
Lead 0.012 0.068 0.42

Relationship between HVL and μ: 0.693

HVL =
µ
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 Atomic Attenuation Coefficient

• If scattering is due to atoms in the material we can divide out

the dependence on the number of atoms in a volume element
dV
• Number of atoms:
dV M= ρdV
NA NA
N= M= r dV
Aw Aw

• Where NA=atoms/mole; Aw =g/mole

• Therefore define:

µ µ AW
a
= cm 2 / atom
r r NA

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 Electronic Attenuation Coefficient

• If scattering is due to electrons in the material we can divide

out the dependence on the number of electrons in a volume
element
• Number of electrons:
NA
N =Z r dV
Aw

• Where Z=Atomic Number (electrons/atom)

• Therefore define:

µ µ AW
e
= cm 2 / electron
r r Z NA

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 Scattering Cross-section

Area = σ
Area = A

If number of red circles = n

Then probability of scattering:

DN ns
= µ dx =
N A

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 Scattering Cross-section

• Relate σ to aμ/ρ
• As before, number of atoms/volume dV:

NA NA
n= r dV = r A dx
Aw Aw

• Substituting for n in previous equation gives:

ns N A s
µ dx = = r A dx
A Aw A

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 Scattering Cross-section (Continued)

• Re-arrange to solve for σ:

µ Aw a µ
s= =
r NA r
• If scattering is due to Z electrons per atom then we get:

µ Aw eµ
se = =
r Z NA r

N AZ
= number of electrons per gram
Aw
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 What Happens to Photons That Interact
With the Medium?

• Two possibilities:
– No energy is transferred to the medium
– Some energy is transferred to the medium

• If energy is transferred to the medium by imparting

kinetic energy to electrons then we can define the
Energy Transfer Coefficient μtr

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 Energy Transfer Coefficient

• A photon traversing a material transfers a fraction μtr of its

incident energy hν per unit thickness
• The energy is transferred to kinetic energy of electrons in the
medium

Etr µ tr Etr µ
µ tr = µ or =
hn r hn r

• Ētr is the average energy transferred into kinetic energy of

charged particles per interaction
• μtr/ρ is the mass energy transfer coefficient

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 Energy Absorption Coefficient

• Energy imparted to electrons may be absorbed or re-radiated

• A fraction g of the energy is re-radiated (as bremsstrahlung)

• The rest (1-g) is absorbed

• Energy absorption coefficient is the fraction of energy

absorbed in medium per unit length

µen or µab = µtr (1 - g )

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 Energy Absorption Coefficient (Continued)

• As before, mass energy absorption coefficient is given by,

μen/ρ (or μab/ρ)

• This quantity allows the evaluation of absorbed dose (energy

per unit mass) in tissue which is important in assessing the
biological effects of radiation

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 Total Interaction Coefficient

• Each interaction mechanism will contribute independently

• Total absorption and attenuation coefficient:

µabs = t abs + s abs

µtotal = t abs + s abs + s scat + µ scat
Coh

Where µ = Interaction coefficien t for medium

t = photoelectric interaction coefficien t
s = Compton interaction coefficien t
µ Coh = coherent interaction coefficien t

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 Relative Importance
of Different Interaction Mechanisms
Total mass attenuation coefficient vs Energy

æµö æt ö æs ö æs ö æp ö
çç ÷÷ = çç ÷÷ + çç coh ÷÷ + çç ÷÷ + çç ÷÷
è r øtot è r ø è r ø èrø èrø

total = photoelectric + coherent + compton + pair

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Photon Interactions in Water

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 Polychromic Radiation

• μ depends on energy

• μ decreases with energy

– True regardless of interaction type
– Lower energy photons are lost faster
– Higher energy photons are more penetrating
– Beam becomes “harder” with depth
– Fraction of scattered photons increases with depth

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 Image Contrast Reduced by Scattered
Photons

• Fraction of scattered photons increases with

– Energy (Compton scatter)
– Anatomical thickness
– Field size

kV image

MV image

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