Monte Carlo Calculation of linear attenuation coefficients and photon scattering properties of novel concretes loaded with Osmium, Iridium and Barite nanoparticles

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that the use of high-density nanoparticles (NPs) in concrete composition improves its radiation shielding properties. In the present study, the linear attenuation coefficients and photon scattering properties of newly developed high-density Nano-concretes have been calculated using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code. Material and methods: The shielding properties of Nano-concretes containing 10%, 20%, and 30% weight percentage of Osmium, Iridium and Barite NPs (100 nm) as well as ordinary concrete were investigated. The 6 and 18 MV photon beams of Varian Linac and 60 Co photons were used for simulation. Photon scattering flux was calculated for all Nano-concretes with 30 wt% of NPs and ordinary concrete at different angles. Results: In general, by adding Iridium, Osmium and Barite NPs to ordinary concrete, the linear attenuation coefficients increased. Despite a lower density relative to Iridium and Osmium, Nano-concretes containing Barite exhibited a higher linear attenuation coefficient due to their higher electron density. Conclusions: The results revealed a dependence between the scattered photon flux and the effective atomic number of Nano-concretes. With increasing the atomic number of fillers, the intensity of the scattered photon flux enlarged. Also, the scattered flux was higher for all types of concretes at 180 degrees relative to other angles.

Study of Multi-Pixel Scintillator Detector Configurations for Measuring Polarized Gamma Radiation

When a positron annihilates, two gamma photons are created with orthogonal polarizations. It is possible to use coincidence measurements where both photons undergo Compton scattering to estimate their initial relative polarization orientation. This information is of great interest in gamma imaging systems, such as Positron Emission Tomography, where it may be used as an additional tool to distinguish true coincidence events from scatter and random background. The successful utilization of this principle critically depends on the detector’s angular and energy resolution, which determine its polarimetric performance. In this study, we use Monte Carlo simulations based on the Geant4 toolkit to model two multi-pixel detector configurations identified as prospective for the measurement of gamma-ray polarization in PET. One is based on 2 mm × 2 mm × 20 mm LYSO scintillators and the other is based on 3 mm × 3 mm × 20 mm GAGG scintillators. Each configuration has a pair of modules, each consisting of 64 crystals set up in a single 8 × 8 matrix, where both the recoil electron and the Compton-scattered photon are absorbed. We simulate positron annihilation by generating two back-to-back gamma photons of 511 keV with orthogonal polarizations. The Compton scattering is successfully identified and the modulation of the azimuthal angle difference is clearly observed. The configuration based on GAGG crystals demonstrates slightly better polarimetric performance than the one based on LYSO crystals, reflected in the more pronounced azimuthal modulation.

Study of Doppler broadening Compton scattering and cross section determination for the elements Fe, Zn, Ag, Au and Hg

To assess the contribution of Doppler broadening and examine theCompton profile, the Compton energy absorption cross sections aremeasured and calculated using formulas based on a relativisticimpulse approximation. The Compton energy-absorption crosssections are evaluated for different elements (Fe, Zn, Ag, Au and Hg)and for a photon energy range (1 - 100 keV). With using these crosssections,the Compton component of the mass–energy absorptioncoefficient was derived, where the electron momentum prior to thescattering event caused a Doppler broadening of the Compton line.Also, the momentum resolution function was evaluated in terms ofincident and scattered photon energy and scattering angle. The resultsof cross sections for the coherent and incoherent processes arecompared with theoretical values and reported values of otherresearchers. The present results are in agreement with the theoreticalvalues.

Simultaneously Improve White LED Omni-Directional Package Efficacy and Spatial Color Uniformity on Scattered Photon Extraction Technology

The Scattered Photon Extraction (SPE™) based on the concept of TIR lens combined with remote phosphor is proven to be one of the effective solutions for improving white LED efficiency, and it provides the omnidirectional light distribution for luminaire design. Not only the light extraction efficiency (LEE) is important, but also the angular uniformity of correlated color temperature (CCT) is a critical index in the evaluation of high-quality white LEDs. A non-optimized SPE™ will cause an increase in the angular CCT deviation (ACCTD) and ultimately affect lighting quality. Two possible ways using lens design are proposed to reduce the ACCTD and even improve its efficiency. Among them, using the concept of light guiding to design the lens can minimum the deviation of forward and backward CCT from 2720 K to 657 K, and the overall efficiency can be further enhanced by 12% compared to typical SPE™ lens.

Scattering into one-dimensional waveguides from a coherently-driven quantum-optical system

We develop a new computational tool and framework for characterizing the scattering of photons by energy-nonconserving Hamiltonians into unidirectional (chiral) waveguides, for example, with coherent pulsed excitation. The temporal waveguide modes are a natural basis for characterizing scattering in quantum optics, and afford a powerful technique based on a coarse discretization of time. This overcomes limitations imposed by singularities in the waveguide-system coupling. Moreover, the integrated discretized equations can be faithfully converted to a continuous-time result by taking the appropriate limit. This approach provides a complete solution to the scattered photon field in the waveguide, and can also be used to track system-waveguide entanglement during evolution. We further develop a direct connection between quantum measurement theory and evolution of the scattered field, demonstrating the correspondence between quantum trajectories and the scattered photon state. Our method is most applicable when the number of photons scattered is known to be small, i.e. for a single-photon or photon-pair source. We illustrate two examples: analytical solutions for short laser pulses scattering off a two-level system and numerically exact solutions for short laser pulses scattering off a spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) or spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) source. Finally, we note that our technique can easily be extended to systems with multiple ground states and generalized scattering problems with both finite photon number input and coherent state drive, potentially enhancing the understanding of, e.g., light-matter entanglement and photon phase gates.

Determination of the interface between insoluble environments using gamma scattering technique

In this study, we deploy and compare spectrum processing methods based on gamma scattering technique to determine the interface between insoluble fluids stored in the container. The gamma scattering measurement system included: a 5 mCi radioactive source of 137Cs, a cylindrical glass vase with a diameter of 6.5 cm containing the fluids, and a NaI(Tl) detector with a 7.62 × 7.62 cm scintillation crystal. The detector was arranged to obtain the scattered photon beam at the angle of 120o. Two of the three processing methods showed good results with the biggest difference of 5 mm. In addition, the results also show the feasibility of using SCA in gamma scattering measurement system to determine the interface between insoluble environments.