Alpha- particle stopping powers in air and argon

[摘要] The range and the stopping Power in the air and argon gas of alpha particle emitted by various sources which contain three isotopes (241Am, 244Cm and 239Pu), using surface barrier silicon detectors in a small vacuum chamber at various pressures. The stopping power of this charged particle in the air and argon from Bethe- Bloch formula was found to increase extremely as distance or pressure is increased. The range for this alpha source at a pressure of 1bar was found to be 5.8±0.1 cm in air and 6.0±0.1 cm in argon respectively with the stopping powers also found to be 1142.5±47.5 KeV/cm in the air and 1014.1±34.3 KeV/cm in the argon. The measured values of range were compared with another empirical formula from literature, while the measured values of the stopping power were compared with other empirically calculated values from the literature.

[关键词] Americium-241;Vacuum chamber;Argon;Silicon detector;Energy calibration