Review and history of photon cross section calculations
Abstract
Photon (x-ray, gamma-ray, bremsstrahlung) mass attenuation coefficients, mu/rho, are among the most widely used physical parameters employed in medical diagnostic and therapy computations, as well as in diverse applications in other fields such as nuclear power plant shielding, health physics and industrial irradiation and monitoring, and in x-ray crystallography. This review traces the evolution of this data base from its empirical beginnings totally derived from measurements beginning in 1907 by Barkla and Sadler and continuing up through the 1935 Allen compilation (published virtually unchanged in all editions up through 1971-1972 of the Chemical Rubber Handbook), to the 1949 semi-empirical compilation of Victoreen, as our theoretical understanding of the constituent Compton scattering, photoabsorption and pair production interactions of photons with atoms became more quantitative. The 1950s saw the advent of completely theoretical (guided by available measured data) systematic compilations such as in the works of Davisson and Evans, and by White-Grodstein under the direction of Fano, using mostly theory developed in the 1930s (pre-World War II) by Sauter, Bethe, Heitler and others. Post-World War II new theoretical activity, and the introduction of the electronic automatic computer, led to the more extensive and more accurate compilations in the 1960s and 1970s by Storm and Israel, and by Berger and Hubbell. Today's mu/rho compilations by Cullen et al, by Seltzer, Berger…
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