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

Target Information

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