LB Thesis Outline

Abstract

Photon Activation Analysis functions as a way to quantify isotopic concentrations in a certain sample. This information is very useful when trying to find potential contaminants within a sample. Selenium, when ingested in large amounts, is harmful as it is a toxic substance. When applying PAA, one of the most important pieces of the investigation is ensuring that isotopes within a sample are detectable i.e. how active does a sample have to be to detect the isotopes of interest. Soil was gathered and targets were created that had 50%, 10%, 1%, and 0.1% concentration by mass of selenium which was introduced to the soil during the target creation. The targets were irradiated using the Linear Accelerator at the Idaho Accelerator Center with a beam energy of 32 MeV. Once active, the spectral data was gathered using a high purity germanium detector.

Theory

LB Thesis Theory Section

Experimental Setup

Give beam parameters, include schematic of the experimental setup (xfig),include pictures of accelerator and W/Al Radiator. Give GPS coordinates for soil gathered.

Target Information

a schematic of the target is shown below:

Sample	Soil Mass (g)	Inner Se Mass (g)	Outer Se Mass (g)	Front Outer Nickel Foil (g)	Front Inner Nickel Foil (g)	Rear Inner Nickel Foil (g)	Rear Outer Nickel Foil (g)
50% Sample	0.4921	0.5145	0.0900	1.5535	0.3956	0.3050	1.6140
10% Sample	4.9921	0.5142	0.1245	1.3310	0.3592	0.2768	1.2196
1% Sample	10.2403	0.0954	0.0914	3.4274	1.8672	1.7220	3.4887
0.1% Sample	100.1242	0.1074	0.1042	1.3911	0.4467	0.2548	1.3804

Data/Error Analysis

LB Thesis Thin Window Analysis