Mean atomic number analysis by the coherent to backscattering intensity ratios at 59.54 and 661.62 photon energies

Abstract In this work, the qualitative analysis has been performed by using ratio of coherent to backscattering intensity ratios. The samples in the mean atomic number range 4.268≤ Z ¯ ≤5.786 and 9.743≤ Z ¯ ≤83.00 were prepared by using dilution technique. 59.54 and 661.62 keV photon energies are obtained from the radioactive point sources of 241Am and 137Cs an activity of 0.43–0.20 MBq, respectively. The scattered gamma rays were counted by a HPGe detector with a resolution of 182 eV at 5.9 keV. The obtained intensity ratios are plotted as function of the mean atomic number and constituted a best-fit-curve. The correlation coefficients for the prepared samples in the mean atomic number range 4.268≤ Z ¯ ≤5.786 are 0.976 and 0.970 at 59.54 and 661.62 keV photons, respectively. The correlation coefficients for the prepared samples in the mean atomic number range 9.743≤ Z ¯ ≤83.00 are 0.964 and 0.967 at 59.54 and 661.62 keV photons, respectively. It is observed that there was a high correlation between coherent to backscattering intensity ratio and the mean atomic numbers. It was concluded that the recommended intensity ratio can be used for qualitative analysis.