(revised 10/20/10)

RANGE OF ALPHAS

Advanced Laboratory, Physics 407

University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin 53706

Abstract
A silicon solid state detector is used to measure the energy of
alphas which have passed through air from an Am241 source. The air
pressure may be varied and so the Bethe-Bloch formula for dE=dx
may be veri ed and the alpha particle range and straggling can be
measured.

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Theory
A charged particle moving through a neutral medium will interact electro-
magnetically with both the electrons and nucleii of the material. The electro-
magnetic interactions with the nucleii cause Rutherford Scattering and are
seen as small (and occasionally large) changes in directions. The interactions
with the electrons are far more frequent and are seen as a fairly steady loss
of kinetic energy.
There are, of course, statistical uctuations in the rate of the interactions
and this is seen as \straggling" of the range of monoenergetic particles. For
example, alphas with a mean range of 20 cm will have range uctuations
(straggling) of about 1%.
The rate of loss of energy can be calculated and is expressed by the
Bethe-Bloch formula.(see Ref.[1], pg. 637 and Ref.[2], pp. 155-162.)
dE 1 4e4 z 2 NB
= (mks units) (1)
dx (4o )2 me v 2
where
e = charge on electron (coulombs).
z = Atomic number of moving particle.
N = the number of atoms/unit volume (meter 3 ).
me = mass of electron (kg).
v = velocity of the moving particle (meter/sec).
E = kinetic energy of the moving particle (joules).
x = distance travelled by the particle (meter).
o = permittivity of free space.
1=(40 ) = 8:988  109 Newton meter2 /coulomb2 .
B = Atomic stopping number (dimensionless).

The factor B is not constant but varies slowly with energy in a logarithmic
manner. The theoretical calculations for B become dicult when allowance
is made for the partial screening of the nuclear charge by the inner (K)
electrons.

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 The best formula for B is probably that of Ref.[1], pg. 638.
" #
 2me v 2 
B = Z ln ln(1 2
) 2
CK (2)
<I>
where
CK = the correction term for the K-shielding. The equations and a
plot of CK are shown on pg. 639 of Ref.[1]
= the usual relativity factor - veloc particle/veloc light
< I > = \average" ionization potential of the stopping medium
Z = (average) atomic number of the stopping medium
If we assume that the velocity is non-relativistic, then E = 21 mv 2 and so:
 
dE 1 M B
= 2e z N
4 2
(3)
dx (40 )2 me E
where M is the mass of the particle.
2
is also small so that ln(1 2
) 2
and so

4 me E 
B = Z ln CK : (4)
M <I>
Fortunately in our experiment with alpha particles in air, the calculated value
of CK is nearly constant near 0.90.
Numerical values for dE dx as a function of energy are shown in Fig. 1
for various particles. A 5 Mev alpha particle has a dE dx value of about
1000 MeV=gm=cm 2 . dE dx has minimum for all particles at a kinetic emergy
of about twice the rest mass. For singly charged particles this value is about
2 MeV=gm=cm 2 . The derivation of the Bethe-Bloch equation assumes that
the projectile velocity is much larger than the characteristic orbital electron
velocities. When the projectile velocity is lower than the requirements of this
condition, dE/dx must go to zero as the particle energy approaches zero. A
plot of the energy loss of the ionizing radiation as the particles travel through
matter is called a Bragg plot. The Bragg plot will show a peak just before
the particles come to rest. Fig.2 shows a Bragg plot for 5.49 MeV Alpha par-
ticles in air at STP. The peak in this case corresponds to an Alpha particle
energy of about 1 MeV.

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Figure 1: Energy Loss Curves for Di erent Particles in Air and Lead.

Figure 2: Bragg Curve for 5.49 MeV Alpha Particles in air at STP

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Figure 3: The di erential and integral probability distributions for heavy
charged particle range.

The particle range can be determined by integrating dE over the particle

dx
energy.
ZE
dE 0
R (E ) = dE :
0 (5)
0 dx
Statistical uctuations lead to a distribution of ranges about the mean R0
with a straggling parameter de ned by the probability distribution for the
ranges:
1 (R R0 )2
P (R) = p exp[ ]: (6)
 2

Fig. 3 shows di erential and integral probability distributions for heavy

particles ranges. The extrapolated range Rex is related to the straggling
parameter as explained later in the text.
Fig. 4 shows range vs energy for alpha particled in air at standard con-
ditions. The range for a 5486 keV alpha in dry air at 15 and 760 Torr is
4.051 cm.

Apparatus
1. Vacuum Chamber. The vacuum chamber is made of pyrex glass and is
mounted inside a dark wooden box. The Silicon detector must be pro-
tected from room light since photons cause a noise background which
spoils the resolution of the detector. Do not open the glassware. The
alpha source could, over a long time, shed some radioactive dust. The

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Figure 4: Alpha Range-Energy in air

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 241
Am 458 years
95
12.7% 86.0%
α α
5443 keV 5486 keV

78% γ
22% 43 keV
γ
94% γ
237 103 keV 59 keV
Np
93

Figure 5: Decay Scheme of Am241

system has been designed to ensure that any dust is trapped inside the
glass system vacuum. The source to detector surface was remeasured
in 2005 and determined to be 6:65  0:05 cm.
2. Pressure Gauge|MKS Baratron type 122A. The pressure gauge is an
absolute pressure transducer based on measuring the capacitance of
a sample chamber. The accuracy is rated at 0.5% of reading from
0 50 C. The readout is in Torr.
3. Vacuum Pump. The pump is a 2 stage rotary pump enclosed in the
standard cart to reduce acoustic noise. Notice that a ow of warm air
is exhausted from the cart by an electric fan to prevent the pump and
motor from overheating.
4. Alpha Source. The decay scheme of Am241 is shown in Fig 5 This source
is not sealed and so must remain inside the vacuum enclosure. (Usually
sources are sealed with very thin metal skins. In this experiment, a skin
would slow the alphas slightly. As the skin could not have a perfectly
uniform thickness, the alphas would emerge with a broader range of
energies.) The 5486 and 5443 keV alphas will not be resolved due to
the nite thickness of the source. A 5486 keV alpha has a range in dry

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 air at 15 C and 760 Torr of 4.051 cm and so the source alphas cannot
reach the detector until the chamber pressure has been reduced.
5. Solid State Detector - (Ortec A-040-200-300, Serial 9-129B). The detec-
tor is a surface barrier detector consisting of an extremely thin p-type
layer on the face of a high purity n-type Si wafer. The rated energy
resolution of the detector is 40 keV and the active thickness when fully
depleted is 300 . The p-type surface of the detector is gold plated
with a layer approximately 40 g-cm 2 thick. The detector has a sen-
sitive diameter of about 16 mm and is mounted on a BNC connector
within the vacuum system. Although the detector can operate with a
bias of +100V in a very good vacuum, we will use the detector in the
dangerous 10 2 Torr to 10 Torr region. Set the bias to 30 V but do not
use a bias greater than +30 V. Some useful properties of Si are listed
in Fig. 7.
6. Pre-ampli er - (Ortec model A576). This is a charge sensitive pre-
ampli er which also supplies the bias voltage for the Si detector. The
pre-ampli er is designed to have a large e ective input capacitance Ca
so that most of the charge drains from the detector and cable into the
pre-ampli er and is ampli ed. If the capacitances of the detector and
cable are Cd and Cc , then:
 
Ca
Qa = Qtot ;
Cd + Cc + Ca
where Qtot is the total charge collected by the detector, and Qa is the
charge delivered to the charge sensitive pre-ampli er.
Although Ca is large, the charge seen by the pre-ampli er depends upon
Cc and so the same short cable should be used to connect the detector
and pre-ampli er for all measurements.
7. Ampli er. ORTEC Model 570. Use the input set to POS and the
unipolar output. The ampli er gain is adjustable so that the gain
can be matched to the full scale range of the PC MCA System. The
ampli er also shortens the pulses so that a typical alpha pulse out is
 2 sec.
8. Pulse-Height Analyzer - The PHA (Spectrum Techniques UCS30) is an
external circuit component with a USB connection to the computer.

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 α PREAMP AMPLIFIER MCA

SCOPE

Figure 6: Apparatus Schematic Diagram

The full scale voltage is 8 V and the circuit is usually set for 512
channels full scale.
9. Scaler - (Ortec Model 484).

Procedure
1. Read Ref.[2], pp. 208-217, and the theory in Ref.[1], Chapt. 22.
2. Pump down the vacuum chamber. The lter has a low pumping speed
and so the time to reach 0 Torr is several minutes. Practice using
the air inlet valve or the vacuum pump valve to obtain and hold any
pressure you wish.
3. Connect the detector to the FET pre-ampli er with a short (1 foot)
cable. The TEST-OFF switch should be set to the center position.
Connect the rear pre-ampli er output to the input of the pulse ampli-
er. Connect the pulse ampli er output to the pulse height analyzer
input and scope. Do not terminate the cable to the scope, since the
pulse height analyzer input has a relatively low input impedance. The
schematic is shown in Fig. 6.
4. The ampli er should be set for POS input pulses. Lower the pressure
to less than 5 Torr and look for positive pulses (5 sec) at the PHA
and scope inputs. Adjust the gain of the ampli er so that the pulses
are being counted near the upper end of the 512 channel PHA. The
PHA requires positive pulses and full scale corresponds to 8 Volt input
pulses. Record all parameters so that you can later reproduce the
same gain. The Si detector output will be pulses whose amplitudes are

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 proportional to the alpha particle energy less the energy lost in the air.
Since these pulses are fed to the PHA we have:
Energy = constantpulse height = constant(channel number+constant)

5. The bias voltage required to fully deplete the Si detector is 30 V. Check

to see that the voltage is correct.
6. Measure the full-width half maximum resolution of the alpha particle
peak and compare to the intrinsic resolution of the Si detector.
7. Measure the range vs pressure using the scaler. In principle, the PHA
could be used by integrating the number of counts in the alpha peak
as a function of pressure, but the pulse heights are too small near
the end of the range and the dead time correction will be very large
due to the high alpha particle counting rates. To con gure the scaler-
ampli er system, set the ampli er gain to the maximum value and set
the pressure above the alpha particle range. Lower the ampli er gain
so that the noise pulses are barely counted by the scaler. Measure the
count rate as a function of pressure starting at the high pressure end.
The pressure steps will have to be very small near the end of the range
to accurately measure the range and straggling parameter.
Plot count rate against P. Determine the mean range R0 and the ex-
trapolated range Rex of the alpha particles as shown in Fig. 3. Compare
your result to the predicted value based on Fig. 4. Remember that you
have to correct the predicted range to the current air temperature.
From the quantity Rex R0 determine the e ective straggling parame-
ter . The quantity is de ned by the probability distribution for the
ranges:
1 ( R R0 ) 2
P (R) = p exp[ ]
 2
p
and Rex R0 = 2 : Check that the source-detector distance is consis-
tent with the value given earlier in the writeup. Compare the measured
straggling parameter to the value given in Fig. 8 below.
8. Now use the PHA to measure the alpha particle energy as a function
of air pressure. Start at 0 Torr (or as far as the system will pump
down) and record the channel peak as a function of pressure in about

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 25 Torr steps. The channel number at 0 Torr will correspond to the
alpha particle energy of 5.49 MeV. Record the channel peak down to
the highest pressure at which you can still determine the peak channel.
Plot E (channel number) as a function of pressure. This is the primary
data from which you will determine dE/dx by numerically evaluating
the derivative from the E vs pressure curve.
Evaluating the derivative of the E vs P curve can be done numerically
by taking the di erences between successive E (channel number) points
and dividing by the pressure di erence. Plot dE/dx vs P and dE/dx
vs E. Note that dE/dx is energy dependent and rises as the energy
decreases. The energy dependence would go as 1/E if not for the ln E
dependence.
 
9. Plot E dEdx vs lnE . Since there is no additional E dependence, this
procedure should result in a straight line from which the average ion-
ization potential of air, < I >, can be determined. This can be readily
done by extrapolating the straight line to zero and nding the intercept
on the ln E axis. Determine this value of E and use it to solve for < I >
in eV. Compare to the expected value of about 100 eV. You will have
to provide a value for mMe .
10. Both the source and the detector have nite widths and so some par-
ticles will travel slightly di erent path lengths to the detector. Discuss
this contribution to the observed energy resolution.
11. From the count rate and by estimating the source and detector dimen-
sions (without opening the chamber), estimate the source strength in
microcuries (Ci).
12. Use the range-energy data sheet in Fig. 9 to check that the solid
state detector has a depletion depth greater than the range of 5.5 MeV
alphas.

References
[1] R.D. Evans, \The Atomic Nucleus," McGraw{Hill, 1955.
[2] A.C. Melissinos, \Experiments in Modern Physics", Academic Press,
1966 (2nd Ed. 2003).

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Figure 7: Silicon Properties

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Figure 8: Alpha Particle Straggling Parameter in Air

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Figure 9: Alpha Range-Energy in Silicon

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