Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2026

Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometry With Tunable Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) Synchrotron Radiation
Published on: October 30, 2012
Short-lived alpha sources of energies 6.0 MeV and 7.69 MeV for calibration purposes
D Pressyanov1, A Poffijn, G Meesen
1Department Atomic Physics, Faculty of Physics, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, 5 James Bourchier Blvd., Sofia 1164, Bulgaria. pressyan@hotmail.com
Abstract:
An approach for preparation of short-lived alpha sources of energy 6.0 MeV and 7.69 MeV is proposed. The sources are prepared by taking a sample of 222Rn progeny on an alpha spectrometric filter. The activities (or related parameters) of 218Po, 214Pb and 214Bi at the end of sampling are precisely determined by a reference measurement with an alpha spectrometer. Further they are used as input values to calculate with a sufficient precision the number of emitted alpha particles of any energy and at any time interval of interest. Theoretical modelling and experimental results demonstrated that such sources could be prepared with a sufficient purity. There is a potential for the number of alpha particles emitted in a given time interval to be certified with an accuracy of 1-2%.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Lab
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Overview
Nuclear Transmutation
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Radiation and Light Sources
Two common narrow-range 'line' sources used in AAS are hollow-cathode lamps (HCLs) and...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
