Effect of the Elemental Composition of Optical Glasses on the Quantitative Characteristics of X-Ray and Gamma Radiation Attenuation

Abstract

The influence of chemical elements in the composition of optical glasses on the quantitative characteristics of their attenuation of X-ray and gamma radiation is analyzed. The method of calculating the mass coefficients of radiation attenuation (MCRA) with quantum energy ranging from 0.2 to 3.0 MeV for oxides as glass components is proposed. The chemical elements and their oxides in the glass composition, which make the main contribution to their values of the linear coefficient of radiation attenuation (LCRA) with different quantum energies, E, are identified. In the field of quantum energies ranging from 0.2 to about 1.0 MeV, oxides such as PbO, Ta₂O₅, Gd₂O₃, La₂O₃, BaO, Sb₂O₃ (due to its low concentration, its contribution to LCRA is usually negligible), CdO, Nb₂O₅, ZrO₂, and Y₂O₃ have a strong effect (in decreasing order) on the LCRA values of glasses. It is shown that in the field of E values ranging from 0.2 to about 1.0 MeV, elements (or their oxides) can be very different from each other in terms of their MCRA values, and glasses of different compositions, in terms of their LCRA values, while at E > 1.0 MeV, both the first and second coefficients change approximately equally with an increase in the energy of radiation quanta.