Bremsstrahlung Produced in Thick Aluminum and Iron Targets by 0.5 to 2.8 MeV Electrons

Abstract

The bremsstrahlung produced by electrons with incident energies of 0.5, 1.0, 20., and 2.8 MeV bombarding aluminum and iron targets of sufficient thickness to stop the electrons, has been measured. Spectral distributions of external bremsstrahlung intensity per unit solid angle, at representative emission angles ranging from 0 to 150 deg are presented graphically. Spectral distributions of radiation energy integrated over all angles and integrated over only the forward hemisphere are presented. Plots of total intensity as a function of angle show the degree of peaking in the forward direction with increasing electron energy. Total external radiation energy is found to vary as the square of the bombarding electron energy T₀ over this energy range. The external efficiency for bremsstrahlung production is found to be 4.8×10⁻³ T₀ for Al and 9.2×10⁻³ T₀ for Fe, where T₀ is in MeV.