R

137m LEP
Internal conversion in Ba
5.2.45

Related topics Support rod -PASS-, square, l 400 mm 02026.55 1

g-radiation, nuclear transitions, transition probability, duration, Right angle clamp -PASS- 02040.55 1
metastable states, isotopic spin quantum numbers, rules Tripod base -PASS- 02002.55 1
governing selection, multipole radiation, isomeric nuclei, pho- Adapter, BNC-socket/4 mm plug pair 07542.27 1
tonuclear reaction, conversion electron, characteristic X-ray Screened cable, BNC, l 750 mm 07542.11 3
radiation, scintillation detectors. Connecting cord, 750 mm, red 07362.01 2
Connecting cord, 750 mm, blue 07362.04 2
Principle and task
The radiation emitted during the decay of the 137Cs isotope is Problems
measured with a scintillation detector and the energy spec- 1. Measurement of the g-spectrum of 137
Cs using a scintil-
trum determined with a pulse height analyzer. The spectrum lation detector.
contains fractions due to a g-transition and fractions origina- 137m
2. Determination of the conversion factor of the Ba excit-
ting from a characteristic X-ray radiation. The areas of the
ed nucleus.
fractions in question are determined and the conversion fac-
tor obtained from them.
Set-up and procedure
Equipment The layout of the detection apparatus is shown in Fig. 1, a lay-
Source Cs-137, 37 kBq 09096.01 1 out in which very few g-quanta occur which have undergone
Impulse height analyser 13725.93 1 backscattering on contact with the environment. The detailed
Gamma detector 09101.00 1 directions in the operating instructions of the g-detector, the
Operating unit f. gamma detector 09101.93 1 pulse height analyzer, the oscilloscope and the recorder,
High-voltage connecting cable 09101.10 1 should be complied with. The detection apparatus must be
Oscilloscope, 20 MHz, 2 channels 11454.93 1 calibrated before the measurement. The following settings
xyt recorder 11416.97 1 should be selected:

Fig. 1: Experimental set-up: Internal conversion in 137mBa.

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 25245 1
 R

LEP 137m
5.2.45 Internal conversion in Ba

Detector voltage: 10.00 scale divisions Fig.2 : Decay diagram of the 137
Cs isotope.
Pulse height analyzer:
Method of operation: automatic
Window: 200 mV
Magnifier: Off
Base: 10.00 scale divisions
Timing Cycle: 3.2 s

Amplification:
Coarse and fine adjustment to be made with the oscillos-
cope in such a way that the maximum pulses on the analo-
gue output reach a height of 9 V.

Recorder:
Input amplification in accordance with the paper format;
zero point and coordinate system to be exactly marked. in which the overall frequency of occurrence has already been
taken into account.
Oscilloscope:
Apply the analogue signal to input 1 of the pulse height The NX and NY fractions are obtained by means of a plani-
analyzer; apply to input 2 the relevant discriminator thres- metric evaluation of the 137Cs spectrum.
hold from the x-output of the pulse height analyzer and
adapt it to the other input signal. The spectrum is in this case approximated by rectilinear par-
tial areas. The two lines are almost gaussian, so that their area
After these settings have been made, no further changes may A is obtained from the height of the apex a and the half-width
be made to the detection apparatus or to the counter geome- b:
try.
A = a·b· AFF
p · AFFFFF
Log 2 .
2
Theory and evaluation
Excited states in atomic nuclei return to the basic state as a In Fig. 3 the area F1 is found to be 574 mm2, while the sum of
result of the emission of g-radiation. The durations of the the areas from F2 to F6 amount to 5231 mm2. It has to be
excited states are within the psec range. borne in mind that the soft X-ray radiation only partially pas-
Any nuclear state is characterized by a spin quantum number ses through the aluminium casing of the scintillation crystal.
j and its parity p. The most frequent type of transition is elec- The transmission factor is about 90%.
tric dipole radiation, involving a variation in spin of D j = 1 and
a variation in the parity. One spin unit corresponds to a rotary The probability of detection in the detector is about 95% for
pulse of h/2p. On exposure to electric quadrupolar radiation X-rays and about 72% for 662-keV g-quanta.
the spin varies by an amount of D j = 2 with an unchanged
parity, and on exposure to magnetic dipole radiation by D j = This yields the following conversion factor:
1, again with an unchanged parity. On exposure to higher
orders of radiation, the change in the spin and the parity con- P = 0.080
dition follow a systematic pattern. A very sharp fall occurs in
the probability of higher order multipolar radiation transfers
with an increase in the order. The probability of magnetic n- Notes
pole radiation corresponds approximately to that of an electric 1. The accuray of the method of measurement has been esti-
(n+1)-pole radiation. mated at about 10%, subject, in addition, to the following
systematic errors:
The b-decay process of 137Cs ends in a metastable state of
137
Ba, the spin quantum number of which deviates to such an Self-absorption of X-ray quanta in the source
extent from the basic state that only higher order transitions Occurence of indirect, scattered g-quanta
are possible. This state has the unusually long duration of 2.6
min in view of the low transition probability. The value of the conversion factor in the literature is:

In isomeric atomic nuclei, internal conversion, in which the P = 0.095.

excitation energy is transmitted to a shell electron, competes
with the higher order radiation transition. In consequence, the 2. The conversion electrons have insufficient energy to pene-
excited atomic shell emits characteristic X-ray radiation. The trate the aluminium casing of the detector and do not influen-
characteristic K-radiation of Cs occurs at 32 keV. ce the spectrum.
The conversion factor P is obtained from the X-ray quantum
fraction NX and from the g-quantum fraction NY in accord-
ance with the following formula:
NX
P = 94.6%
NX + NY

2 25245 PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany
 R

137m LEP
Internal conversion in Ba
5.2.45

Fig. 3: g-spectrum of 137

Cs.

N
·
sec–1

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 25245 3