The energy deposition of slowing down particles in heterogeneous media

Energy deposition by atomic particles in adjacent semi-infinite, amorphous media is described using the forward form of the Boltzmann transport equation. A transport approximation to the scattering kernel, developed elsewhere, incorporating realistic energy transfer is employed to assess the validity of the commonly used isotropic-scattering and straight-ahead approximations. Results are presented for integral energy deposition rates due to a plane, isotropic and monoenergetic source in one half-space for a range of mass ratios between 0.1 and 5.0. Integral profiles for infinite and semi-infinite media are considered and the influence of reflection for different mass ratios is evaluated. The dissimilar scattering properties of the two media induce a discontinuity at the interface in the energy deposition rate the magnitude of which is sensitive to the source position relative to the interface. A comprehensive evaluation of the total energy deposited in the source free medium is presented for a range of mass ratios and source positions. An interesting minimum occurs for off-interface source locations as a function of the source-medium mass ratio, the position of which varies with the source position but is insensitive to the other mass ratio. As a special case, energy reflection and escape coefficients for semi-infinite media are obtained which demonstrates that the effect of a vacuum interface is insignificant for deep source locations except for large mass ratios when reflection becomes dominant. (author)