Bremsstrahlung from cylindrical beta sources

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Abstract
Experimental techniques and equipment were developed for measuring absolute bremsstrahlung spectra from thick cylindrical sources of 147Pm2O3, 204Tl2O3, and 90Sr–90YTiO3. The total bremsstrahlung energy yield for each source was obtained from the photonspectra by the application of calculated corrections for photon absorption in the source, cladding, and air gap. The experimental results are compared with the thin‐target theory of Bethe and Heitler, a modified thin target theory that utilizes empirical correction factors proposed by Koch and Motz, and extended by Berger and Seltzer, and Wyard's thick‐target approximation. The experimental results are in good agreement with modified thin‐target theory, but suggest that the empirical correction factors are too large at energies below 0.2 MeV and too small at higher energies. Dose rates obtained experimentally for 147Pm2O3 and 90Sr–90YTiO3 are compared to those in Arnold's shielding handbook. The handbook results are greater than the experimental values especially for beta emitters with low end‐point energies; this arises from the approximate methods used for his self‐absorption corrections.

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