Mass Attenuation Coefficients For X-rays
Tables of photon mass attenuation coefficients are essential in radiological physics, radiography (for medical and security purposes), dosimetry, diffraction, interferometry, crystallography and other branches of physics. The photons can be in form of x-ray, gamma-ray, and bremsstrahlung.
The values of mass attenuation coefficients are dependent upon the absorption and scattering of the incident radiation caused by several different mechanisms such as:
- Rayleigh scattering (coherent scattering)
- Compton scattering (incoherent scattering)
- Photoelectric Absorption
- Pair production - electron-positron production in the fields of the nucleus and atomic electrons
The actual values have been thoroughly examined and are available to the general public through three databases run by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST):
- XAAMDI database
- XCOM database
- FFAST database
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