Unit XII

Ionizing radiation
 What is ionizing radiations?

Ionizing radiation causes ionization in matter.

Radiation above 10 eV is ionizing radiation.

•high energy electromagnetic radiation (energetic

photons), including x-rays and gamma rays,

•energetic particles of matter (alpha rays,

neutrons, beta rays, electrons, etc), coming from
radioactivity of some radioactive nuclei.
For electromagnetic radiation:
 X-rays in medicine

X-rays imaging
X-rays therapy

• X-rays imaging: bone images, mammography

• X-ray therapy: x-rays are used to kill cancerous
tumors
Observation of bone Mammography
Rotating beam X-rays therapy
 Contents

 The interaction of x-rays - matters

 The production of x-rays
 The use of X-rays in imaging
 The use of X-rays in therapy
The interaction of x-rays with matter
When x-rays pass through a medium, its intensity is
reduced by interacting with that matter .
This is called attenuation.

There are four mechanisms of attenuation:

•Simple scatter
•Photoelectric effect
•Compton scatter
•Pair production
The interaction of x-rays: simple scatter

•low energy photon scattering process (<30 keV)

•the photon ray collides with atoms and changes its direction
•the energy of x-ray photons is reduced after collision
•it will not cause ionization
The interaction of x-rays: the photoelectric effect
(photon energy 1-100 keV)
• An x-ray photon collides
with an atom and transfers
all its energy to an inner
orbital electron.
• The photon disappears.
• The electron is ejected.
• The lost of electrons
causes the ionization of
the atom.
• A high energy electron falls into the low orbit to take the
place of the electron that has been ejected,
• during this process, a lower energy photon is emitted.
 The interaction of x-rays: Compton scatter
(photon energy 100-5000 keV)

• a photon collides with an

atom
• interaction of x-ray photon
with the outer electrons
• an electron is ejected from the
atom
• causes the ionization of the
atom.

• Part of the photon energy is transferred to the ejected electron

• the photon leaves in a different direction with a less energy
The photoelectric effect versus Compton scatter

The photoelectric effect Compton scatter

• interaction of x-ray • interaction of x-ray
photon with the inner photon with the outer
orbital electrons electrons
• incident photon • incident photon is
disappears scattered
• low energy photon • low energy photon due to
emitted due to electron scattering of the incident
jump photon
• causing ionization • causing ionization
 The attenuation of x-rays
When x-rays pass through a medium, the transmitted
intensity is reduced due to interaction, this is called
attenuation.
X-ray
The linear attenuation coefficients

Io
− µx
x µ
I = I oe
I

• µ : the linear attenuation coefficient, unit m-

1
.
∀µ depends on
1. incident photon energy
2. nature of the medium.
 The linear attenuation coefficients

The attenuation coefficient is related to the proton number

(Z-number).
 The photoelectric effect

Io Io

x Z1 Z2 x
− µ1⋅ x − µ2 x
I1 = I o e I 2 = I oe

Z1 > Z 2 ∴ µ1 > µ 2 ∴ I1 < I 2

 Compton Scatter

Io Io

x Z1 Z2 x

I1 = I o e − µ1⋅ x I 2 = I oe − µ2 x

Z1 > Z 2 but µ1 = µ 2 ∴ I1 = I 2
The linear attenuation coefficients
The half-value thickness x1/2 : thickness for I=Io/2

− µ ⋅x 1
 I = I oe ∴ I o = I oe µ ⋅ x1 / 2

Ln 2 0.693
∴ Ln2 = µ ⋅ x1 / 2 ∴ x1 / 2 =
µ
=
µ

The half-value thickness x1/2

•ability of a medium to stop the x-rays
•Smaller x1/2, stronger attenuation
The Production of x-ray: x-rays tube

Power (comsumption) of x - ray tube = V × I

power of x - ray beam

efficiency of x - ray tube =
power of x - ray tube
• The fmax , corresponding to a collision where the
electron losses all its initial kinetic energy Ko, can be
obtained from :
hc
maximum x - ray photon energy = eV = hf max =
λmin

eV e: charge of an electron
f max = V: x-ray tube voltage
h
h = 6.63×10-34 J.s (Plank’s constant)
• The X-rays tube is evacuated to high vacuum level,
• Electrons are produced at the heated cathode and
accelerated toward anode under a high electric
potential,
• The movement of electrons from cathode to the target
forms a tune current,
• When the electrons hit the anode target, less than 1 %
of incident energy is converted into X-rays photon
energy,
• The reminder of the energy is converted into thermal
energy and the anode target get heated,
• To prevent the target from overheating, water or oil
circulation is made around the target to remove the
heat through convection
 The x-rays spectrum

Characteristic
x-ray peaks

Continuous spectrum

The variation of x-rays intensity as a

function of x-rays photons energy
• Two features arise from the x-rays spectrum : one is
the continuous spectrum, another is two sharp peaks,
they are due to different mechanisms,
• For the continuous spectrum , an electron is
accelerated under a potential difference V. It will gain
a kinetic energy equals eV.
• When the electron hits the target, it undergoes a range
of decelerations.
• the kinetic energy of the electron is transferred to a
nearby atom it passes by,
• x-ray photons of a range of energies are emitted from
the tube.
• The fmax , corresponding to a collision where the
electron losses all its initial kinetic energy Ko, can be
obtained from :
hc
maximum x - ray photon energy = eV = hf max =
λmin

eV e: charge of an electron
f max = V: x-ray tube voltage
h
h = 6.63×10-34 J.s (Plank’s constant)
For the two sharp peaks labeled as characteristic peaks, they are related to
following processes:
• Some electrons penetrate into the atoms of the target materials,
• Some inner orbit electrons are ejected due to energetic incident electrons
• Outer electrons jump to the vacancies formed due to the evacuation of the
inner electrons. X-ray photons are emitted.
•These x-ray photons have
a specific energy which is
determined by the
difference between energy
levels of the electron
before and after jumping.
•Various sequences of
emissions, grouped as K-
lines and L-lines ,
correspond to different
types of electron transition.
 The x-rays imaging
The principle of X-ray imaging relies upon individual parts of
an absorbing medium attenuating the incident X-ray beam
differently. The typical x-ray machine uses a voltage of 80-
100keV. This produces 30-50keV photons. The dominant
attenuating mechanism at this range is photoelectric effect.
The amount of attenuation that occurs in a medium depends
principally :

• the thickness of the medium through which the X-

rays pass,
• the atomic number of the atoms in the medium,
• the energy of the X-ray photons incident on the
medium.
The photoelectric effect is the principal mechanism
involved in x-ray imaging.
• the attenuation coefficient is Z3 dependent, so
medium of different Z number will results in
very different absorption behaviour of x-ray.
• Soft tissue will attenuated very differently than
bone due to their large difference of Z-numbers.
• a good contrast can be created between bone
and soft tissue.
• For Compton scatter, the attenuation coefficient
is independent of Z number, so this mechanism
does not contribute to the contrast between
different components of the tissue.
While essentially an X- ray photograph is a 'shadow
photograph', there are shades of grey between the black
and white, formed where the X- ray beam has been
partially attenuated in the medium.
 The x-rays therapy
•Radiotherapy is the use of ionizing radiation to treat disease.
•When X- rays interact with matter, ionization is resulted.
•affect the function of molecules such as DNA
•cause cell death
•cells in the process of dividing are easier to be
damaged by x-rays
• cancerous cells divide faster than healthy cells, a dose
of x-ray will kill more cancerous cells than healthy
cells.
• The principle of the x-ray therapy is based on the fact that
cancer cells are most susceptible to damage by x-rays.
The Compton scatter is the principal mechanism
involved in x-ray therapy.

•When x-rays are used for radiotherapy, the photon

energies are in the range 0.5-5 MeV.
•This is the energy range for Compton scattering
•Attenuation is independent of the Z-number of the
absorbing medium in this energy range.

If lower photon energy is used, photoelectric effect is

dominant, bone will absorb much more x-ray energy
than surrounding tissues, more damage will be done to
the bone than to the tumour to be treated.
 • The tumour is accurately located and then X-rays are
aimed at the tumour from different directions: multiple
beam therapy
• The X-rays tube is rotated about the patient with the
tumor at the centre of the rotation: rotating beam
therapy
In both case the purpose is that the tumor receive larger dose.
Biological effect of ionizing radiation

Ionizing radiation can directly damage DNA, RNA and enzymes.

However, ionizing radiation can also ionize water to form H+ and
OH- ions, causing indirect damage to DNA.