Radioactive decay internal conversion

Further work on nickelocene and cobaltocene was done by Ross , who synthesized the respective compounds using Ni, Ni and " Co, which decay be E.C., jS and a fully converted isomeric transition, respectively, all producing radioactive cobalt isotopes. The results showed retentions, after sublimation, of 84%, 83% and 80%, respectively. The composition of the unsublimable residue was largely CoCp2, except for the highly converted "Co, where only 30% CoCpj could be detected. This was interpreted as showing that by internal conversion the molecules are totally destroyed, by the same sort of argument as was used by Riedel and Merz . 

The defining event of a radioactive nuclide is the transformation of its nucleus into the nucleus of another species, that is, radioactive decay. The number of nuclear transformations occurring per unit of time is called activity . Sometimes radioactivity is used instead of activity . The traditional unit of activity has been the Curie (Ci), which is equal to 3.7 X 10 ° nuclear transformations per second. The conversion of radiation units to the international system (Sysfme International d Unit or SI) has now taken place in the United States. The more fundamental unit of activity, the Becquerel (Bq), equal to 1 nuclear transformation per second, has replaced the Curie. Both units of activity are modified by prefixes such as kilo-, milli-, and micro- to achieve standard multiples of the fundamental unit. A listing of the most commonly used prefixes is given in Table 1. 

The mode of radioactive decay is dependent upon the particular nuclide involved. We have seen in Ch. 1 that radioactive decay can be characterized by a-, jS-, and y-radiation. Alpha-decay is the emission of helium nuclei. Beta-decay is the creation and emission of either electrons or positrons, or the process of electron capture. Gamma-decay is the emission of electromagnetic radiation where the transition occurs between energy levels of the same nucleus. An additional mode of radioactive decay is that of internal conversion in which a nucleus loses its energy by interaction of the nuclear field with that of the orbital electrons, causing ionization of an electron instead of y-ray emission. A mode of radioactive decay which is observed only in the heaviest nuclei is that of spontaneous fission in which the nucleus dissociates spontaneously into two roughly equal parts. This fission is accompanied by the emission of electromagnetic radiation and of neutrons. In the last decade also some unusual decay modes have been observed for nuclides very far from the stability line, namely neutron emission and proton emission. A few very rare decay modes like C-emission have also been observed. 

Gamma rays can interact with the orbital electrons of other atoms, so that the latter are expelled from that atom with a certain kinetic energy (see Ch. 6). A differ t process, called internal conversion, can occur within the atom undergoing radioactive decay. Because the wave function of an orbital electron may overlap that of the excited nucleus, the excitation energy of the nucleus can be transferred directly to the orbital electron (without the involvement of a 7-ray), which escapes from the atom with a certain kinetic energy E. No 7-ray is emitted in an internal conversion process it is an alternate mode to 7-ray emission of de-excitation of nuclei. 

Once an electron is ejected from an atomic orbital due to internal conversion, electron capture, or some other process involved in radioactive decay, a vacancy is created in the electron shell which can be filled in several ways. Electrons from higher energy orbitals can occupy the vacancy. The difference in the binding raergy of the two shells involved in the transition will be emitted from the atom as X-rays. This process is called fluorescent radiation. 

The appropriate excited state of the resonant nucleus can be populated from (a) decay of a radioactive precusor, (b) nuclear reaction or (c) by excitation. Method (a) is most frequently employed because of its convenience. A typical example is shown in Fig. 2 for Co(57), which leads to the 14.41 keV first excited level of Fe(57) by electron capture. The internal conversion coefficient, a, for the 14.41 keV y-ray is 9.0. Therefore, only -10% of the nuclear decays originating from B produce the required 14.41 keV photon. 

As a common consequence of any interaction of nuclear radiation with matter, electron vacancies are created in the K, L, M shells of the atoms. Radioactive decay can also create vacancies in the daughter atoms (electron capture, internal conversion). Electron vacancies can cause X-ray transitions or - as shown by Auger (1925) - the vacancy is filled at the expense of a shell electron emission with the energy... 

Nuclear excitation and nuclear resonant scattering with synchrotron radiation have opened new fields in Mossbauer spectroscopy and have quite different aspects with the spectroscopy using a radioactive source. For example, as shown in Fig. 1.10, when the high brilliant radiation pulse passed through the resonant material and excite collectively the assemblies of the resonance nuclei in time shorter than the lifetime of the nuclear excited state, the nuclear excitons are formed and their coherent radiation decay occurs within much shorter period compared with an usual spontaneous emission with natural lifetime. This is called as speed-up of the nuclear de-excitation. The other de-excitations of the nuclei through the incoherent channels like electron emission by internal conversion process are suppressed. Synchrotron radiation is linearly polarized and the excitation and the de-excitation of the nuclear levels obey to the selection rule of magnetic dipole (Ml) transition for the Fe resonance. As shown in Fig. 1.10, the coherent de-excitation of nuclear levels creates a quantum beat Q given by... 

Radioactive decay of nuclei is a first-order reaction decay rate (activity A) is therefore dependent on the concentration (content) of the radionuclide and is the product of this concentration (more precisely, the number of atoms of radionuclide N) and the decay constant X (in s" ) A =-(dN/dt) = X.N. The basic unit of activity, according to the System International (SI system) is the Bq (becquerel). One Bq (in s ) is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. Previously, the frequently used unit was the Ci (curie) defined as 3.7 x 10 decays per second. For conversion, the following relationship can be used 1 Ci = 3.7 x lO Bq. Number of radionuclide atoms transformed in time t is f T=NQ.e", where Nq is the initial number of atoms of the radionuclide at the time t=0. During conversion, the number of radioactive atoms of the radioactive nuclide is continuously decreasing. Combining both equations we get the relation expressing the dependence of activity on time A = -(dN/dt) The... 

A slightly more restrictive (but otherwise equivalent) criterion for radiative equilibrium is the requirement that all radiative net fluxes must equal the flux k Fn from the deep interior. This latter flux is a positive constant, and may arise from radioactive decay or from the conversion of gravitational potential energy to internal (heat) energy. We have... 

The most common type of source for Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy consists of elemental Co incorporated into a host metal lattice such as rhodium or copper. In the case of Sn measurements, " Sn-enriched CaSnOa or BaSnOa is used as a source. Schematic diagrams of the radioactive decay schemes for these two isotopes are shown in Figure 5. In addition to these transitions, internal conversion processes may give rise to emission of radiation of other energies. For example, in the case of Fe, the / = state may decay via the ejection of a X-shell 7.3-keV electron, and the hole created be filled by an L-shell electron, leading to the emission of either a 6.4-keV electron (Auger process) or X-ray in order to conserve energy. 

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