Experimental observation of Z-dependence of saturation depth of 0.662 MeV multiply scattered gamma rays

The gamma photons continue to soften in energy as the number of scatterings increases in the sample having finite dimensions both in depth and lateral dimensions. The number of multiply scattered photons increases with an increase in target thickness and saturates at a particular value of the target thickness known as saturation depth. The present experiment is undertaken to study the effect of atomic number of the target on saturation depth of 0.662 MeV incident gamma photons multiply scattered from targets of various thicknesses. The scattered photons are detected by an HPGe gamma detector placed at 90° to the incident beam direction. We observe that with an increase in target thickness, the number of multiply scattered photons also increases and saturates at a particular value of the target thickness. The saturation depth decreases with increasing atomic number. The double Compton scattered peak is also observed in the experimental spectra. Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.