Backscattering of 59.54 keV photons for characterization of metallic elements

Scattering measurements of x-rays and gamma rays have been developed for the characterization of internal features of materials such as density or composition. Previous studies were generally carried at small scattering angles. In this paper, a system is described for preliminary studies of back scattering of photons for characterization of materials. The apparatus consist of an annular 100 mCi 241Am source and a high purity thin intensities for the 59.54 keV photons are presented for different metallic elements such as Al, Cu, Zn, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Ta and W. The measurements were carried out at back scattering angles of 1450, 1540, 1650. Coherent peak measurements offer greater sensitivity than Compton peak measurements. In particular, the 59.54 keV coherent peak intensity shows a proportional increase with increasing Z number elements except for the elements Ta and W whose absorption edges are in the vicinity of this photon energy. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the backscattering method for the characterization of metallic elements. (Author)