The Direct-Zeff software for direct calculation of mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number and effective electron number

Significance Statement

    Effective atomic number and effective electron number per unit mass plays an important role in the description of composite materials. Accordingly, the effective atomic number and the effective electron number per unit mass have widespread applications, ranging from material science to biomedical science, which triggers the need for quick and correct calculation of Zeff and Neff. In these lines, we have developed a program called “Direct-Zeff” that computes the mass attenuation coefficient, the effective atomic number and the effective electron number per unit mass of composite materials such as biological tissues, dosimeters, alloys, polymers, compounds, mixtures for total and partial photon interactions. Our future work includes but not limited to creating a new version of Direct-Zeff with the additional features like calculation of build up factor and calculation of effective atomic number and effective electron number using mass energy absorption coefficients.    

 

 

The Direct-Zeff software for direct calculation of mass attenuation coefficient, effective atomic number and effective electron number

Annals of Nuclear Energy, Volume 65, March 2014, Pages 158-165.

Adem Una, Tanfer Canerb

a-Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Faculty of Sciences and Letters, Department of Physics, 04100 Ağrı, Turkey and

b-Akdeniz University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, 07058 Antalya, Turkey.

 

Abstract

 

Determination of the mass attenuation coefficient, u/ρ, the effective atomic number, Zeff, and the effective electron number, Neff, is very important in the fields of nuclear diagnostics, radiation protection, nuclear medicine and radiation dosimetry. In this work, the Direct-Zeff software was developed for the computation of the mass attenuation coefficient, the effective atomic number and the effective electron number per unit mass in the energy range 1 keV–100 GeV. The values of the ZeffNeff and u/ρ can be determined for total photon interaction with and without coherent interaction as well as partial photon interactions such as coherent scattering, incoherent scattering, photoelectric absorption and pair production by using the Direct-Zeff software. The accuracy of the Direct-Zeff software has been demonstrated by comparing the calculated data and the experimental values for the various materials. The Direct-Zeff software can be freely obtained by contacting with the authors.

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