This is a survey course in nuclear radiation physics. Topics to include atomic and nuclear structure, radioactivity, nuclear reactions, interactions of radiation with matter, dosimetry, particle and radiation detection devices,accelerators, neutron physics, fission and fusion, cosmic rays and transuranium elements. Examples of radiation absorption in both inorganic and biological systems will be discussed.

Prerequisite: Modern Physics

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

(Knowledge and Skill Objectives):

This course is intended as a summer term survey course in Nuclear Radiation Physics. The course is designed to familiarize students with the field ofnuclear physics, emphasizing an experimental physicist's point of view. There is emphasis on radioactivity, emission and absorption of radiation and dosimetry. Also emphasis on a broad knowledge of accelerators and particle detectors for pursuit of further graduate studies in physics or work in industry or medical physics field.

CONTENT:

The following details on knowledge and skill content of the course closely follow the selected standard textbook specified below. Deviations from the textbook content and sequencing of topics resulted from the application of cognitive condensation.

1. Ionization and excitation, energy units, ionization current and its measurements, condenser-R-meter, pulse chambers, particle-track chambers.

2. Gas-filled pulse counters, avalanche ionization, gas amplification factor,the proportional region, the Geiger-Muller region, pulse formation and decay, quenching and discharge, G M tube construction, pulse-counting circuit, time resolution, statistical fluctuation, normal and Poisson distribution, standard deviation and counting schedules.

3. Conduction and fluorescence, photomuliplier tubes, the perfect crystal lattice, crystal impurities, scintillation detectors and statistics, phosphorescence, thermoluminescent dosimeters, detection by charge collection, semiconductors, doped crystals, surface-barrier detectors, photographic emulsion, particle-track etch detector.

4. The nuclear radiation, some classical mechanics, relativity theory, charged particles in magnetic field, electromagnetic separation of ions, natural isotope abundance, isotope separation, properties of wave, particle-wave duality, transmitting medium, black-body radiation.

5. Atomic structure, the Rutherford scattering, nuclear constituents, atomic spectra, the Bohr atom, excitation and ionization, orbital characteristics,extension of the Bohr theory, multiple quantum numbers, coupling, magnetic property of Hydrogen, Larmor frequency.

6. Nuclear stability, nuclear mass and binding energy, nuclear forces, characteristics of nuclear forces, origin of the nuclear force, nuclear potential barrier, the nuclear magneton, nuclear quantum number, spin-orbit coupling, parity, quantum statistics, nuclear model, the mass formula.

7. Ionization radiation, X-ray, radioactive Alpha decay, Beta decay, Gamma emission, annihilation radiation, electron capture, resonance emission and absorption, bremstahlung.

8. Natural radioactivity, Uranium ore, units of radioactivity, radioactive dating, alpha particle spectra, range and energy, energy and half-life., Beta particle spectra, Beta identification, the neutrinos, detection of neutrinos,energy-half-life relation, allowed and forbidden transitions, Fermi theory, parity nonconservation. Gamma absorption, the photoelectric effect, compton scattering, pair production, charged particle absorption, range, Delta rays,Cerenkov radiation, tissue dose from Beta and Gamma rays.

9. Sources of radiation, charged particle accelerators, reactors, nuclear fission and fusion, neutron physics, tissue dose due to neutrons, detection of neutrons, cosmic ray sources of radiation, and their dose, transuranium elements, neutron production techniques.

CALENDAR:

The course calendar is driven by the above course content. Content areas will generally be in the order shown above. Some topics and related applications may require more time than others; the listed content, however, is entirely covered. The instructor is required to administer graded work (homework, quizzes, tests, and examinations) whose cumulative substance is congruent with the scope and depth of the above content and the taxonomy of the cognitive domain. An average of at least one graded assignment per week is to be expected, along with mid-term and final examinations.

Recommended readings:

"Nuclear Radiation Physics," by Ralph E. Lapp and Howard L. Andrews, 4th edition, Prentice Hall, Inc..

Nuclear and Particle Physics by W.S.C. Williams, Oxford Science Press Publication, (1991).

Nuclei and Particles, by Emilio Segre', W.A. Benjamin, Inc. 2nd edition, (1977).