Indirectly Ionising Radiation Flashcards
What are three interactions of high energy photons with matter?
Photoelectric
Compton
Pair production
What is primary dose vs scatter dose?
Primary dose is energy deposited by Compton electrons interacting adjacent to the site of the primary interaction
Scatter dose is energy deposited in interactions between scattered photons and electrons at a distance from the initial interaction
At low energies, what ends up with the majority of energy of incoming photon for CS?
Compton scattered photon
At high energies, what ends up with the majority of energy of incoming photon for CS?
Scattered electron
Compton interaction with photon energy
The cross section of the interaction falls slowly with energy at photon energy used in RT.
Compton interaction with atomic number
Cross section proportional to Z
What does Compton interaction depend on outside of Z and E?
Number of essentially free electrons in the medium.
Electron density
Ne = NA.Z/A
When is pair production significant?
Over 5MeV
Cross section of pair production with Z
Z^2
What is the effective atomic number?
The atomic number of an element which would interact with photons in the same way as the composite material
What is linear attenuation coefficient and symbol?
Energy removed from initial radiation beam
Fraction of incident beam of photons absorbed or scattered per unit thickness
mu
What is energy transfer coefficient and symbol?
Energy transferred to the medium
mu_tr
What is energy absorption coefficient and symbol?
Energy deposited in medium locally
mu_en
What is KERMA the sum of?
Initial KE of all charged particles produced as a result of radiation interactions
What does KERMA include?
Energy subsequently re-irradiated as Brem
Energy deposited outside ROI by particles created in it
NOT energy deposited in ROI from charged particles created outside of it