A Different Way To Obtain Mass Attenuation Coefficients of H, Ag, and U Elements for Gamma Energies Between 0.001 To 100 000 MeV

Abstract

This work focuses on a novel way to calculate the mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) of the elements. A code was written under LabVIEW software to perform this calculation. The MAC values of three different elements (H, Ag, and U) with low, medium and high atomic numbers were calculated for different gamma energies to test the developed code. Four different interpolation methods, namely, nearest, linear, spline, and cubic hermite, were used to compute the MACs in the code. Photon energies and cross-section values used in the XCOM program were entered into the written code. The total cross-section value for each energy was computed by the code, and these energies and the total cross-section values were used by an interpolation function in the code.The MAC results from the code were compared with those of the XCOM program. This comparison was performed for the energies used and unused in the interpolation process. For example, for the 1.000 x 10-3 MeV photon energy used in the interpolation process, the MAC values from the code using all methods for the H, Ag, and U elements were 7.214 x 100 cm2/g, 7.037 x 103 cm2/g, and 6.627 x 103 cm2/g, respectively, which are the same as the values in XCOM. As a result of these comparisons, the most appropriate interpolation methods were determined for the calculation of the MACs of the elements. Besides, just like in the XCOM program, the code includes a graph showing the MACs versus the photon energies. The graphs from the code and XCOM were also compared with each other. The obtained results suggest that the introduced code could be used alternatively to obtain the MACs of the elements.