Shielding features of seven types on natural quartz.

The shielding features of amethyst, chalcedony, crystal rock, milky, pink, flint, and jasper quartz were calculated. The seven varieties of quartz were collected within the territory of the state of Zacatecas in Mexico. Shielding characteristics include the linear attenuation coefficients, the effective atomic numbers and the mass interaction coefficients for 1 keV to 100 GeV photons. The interaction coefficients were calculated for the coherent scattering, the photoelectric absorption, the Compton scattering, and the pair production occurring in the electric field of the atomic nucleus and the electrons. The linear attenuation coefficients were compared with those of the Portland concrete widely used as radiation shielding. In the low energy region where the photoelectric absorption is dominant the mass interaction coefficients and the total linear attenuation coefficients have three resonances due to the Si, Ca and Fe concentration, these resonances are also noticed in the effective atomic number. For photons below 60 keV the shielding performance of quartz can be used to shield X-ray devices working with less than 60 kV.

CubBonner - A novel passive neutron area monitor.

Responses of a novel passive neutron area monitor, named CubBonner, were calculated. The responses were estimated for sixty monoenergetic neutrons, from 10-9 to 20 MeV, with the MCNP5 code. The CubBonner is a cubic polyethylene moderator and a gold foil as thermal neutron detector. The ambient dose equivalent response was calculated for three cubes (5″, 8″ and 10" side) with the gold foil at the cube's centers. The moderator cube having the best ambient dose equivalent response was used to estimate the neutron fluence and the 197Au(n,γ) responses per history. The ambient dose response per unit mass of gold was compared with the response of the Berthold LB 6411 active neutron area monitor, and the response for the (n,γ) reaction in the gold foil was compared with the evaporation photo neutrons produced in linear accelerators for radiotherapy.

Characterization of six types of Mexican Onyx.

Optical, chemical, and radiation shielding characteristics of 6 types of Mexican onyx from the semi-desert of Zacatecas have been determined. Onyx samples are Yellow, Blue, Brown, Orange, Red and Green. Characterization was carried out using Energy dispersed X-Ray fluorescence, Visible Ultraviolet Spectrometry and Infrared Spectroscopy. With these techniques it was possible to study the chemical, physical and optical characteristics of the Mexican Onyx; from where the elemental composition was obtained, the absorption peaks, the vibrational modes and the optical band gap. As well as the interactions of these materials with radiation was studied. From this last study we obtained the Mass interaction coefficient for the coherent and incoherent dispersion, the photoelectric effect, the Compton scattering and the pair production, in the atomic nucleus and the electron field. For all types of onyx the total mass attenuation coefficients are alike showing a resonance due to K-shell of Ca. Mexican onyx has a good shielding features to photons of energy less than 100 keV because the most probable event is the photoelectric effect.

Nuclear pulse generator embedded in FPGA.

This manuscript presents the design and implementation of an intellectual property core, which acts as a generator of nuclear pulses. The design is embedded in a Field programmable gate array. It is capable of forming pulses with an exponential shape such as those from a radiation detector or Gaussian-shaped pulses such as those provided by a spectroscopy amplifier. Its characteristic is that the amplitude and period of these pulses can be configured by the user through a Virtual instrument generated in graphic language through the LabVIEW development platform. This can greatly reduce the volume, cost and energy consumption in relation to commercial analog nuclear electronics pulse generators.

Doses in eye lens, thyroid, and gonads, due to scattered radiation, during a CT radiodiagnosis study.

X-ray images used for radio-diagnosis are very useful to evaluate the progress of a treatment or to have a better diagnosis. However, during the interaction between the incoming X-ray beam and the body surface, part of the radiation is scattered out reaching other parts of the body delivering an undesirable dose. In this work the dose in eye lenses, thyroid, and gonads of a solid water phantom was measured using thermoluminescent dosimeters, while a Computer Tomography of the torso was obtained. With the measured absorbed dose the effective dose was calculated. Thus, the effective dose in the eye lens, thyroid, and gonads is approximately 57, 214 and 9 µSv respectively. The largest effective dose was on that area located nearest to the region where the radiation is scattered.

Doses in eye lens, thyroid, salivary glands, mammary glands, and gonads, due to radiation scattered in dental orthopantomography.

In the aim to support treatments and diagnostics in Dentistry the most common radiographies are the periapical radiography and the dental panoramic. In the dental panoramic the X-ray beam is addressed into a large zone of the face obtaining the image of the upper and lower jaw. In this procedure part of the X-rays are scattered reaching some other parts of the patient body. In this work the absorbed dose in the eye lens, thyroid, salivary glands, mammary glands, and gonads, was measured in patients undergoing a dental orthopantomography. Measurements were carried out with thermolmuminiscent dosimeters. With the absorbed doses the Effective dose were calculated. The highest dose was obtained in the salivary glands (30.4 µSv) and the lowest dose was obtained in thyroid (3.8 µSv).

FPGA embedded multichannel analyzer.

An multichannel analyzer has been designed, and its performance has been evaluated. The multichannel analyzer is embedded into a Field programmable gate array. The design incudes the virtual instrument in order to hand and to visualize the pulse height spectrum. Two commercially available multichannel analyzers using a NaI(Tl) and HPGe detectors were used to obtain the pulse height spectra of 137Cs, 60Co and 152Eu sources and were compared with the pulse height spectra obtained with the embedded multichannel analyzer, being alike the spectra obtained with the commercial multichannel analyzer. Our design is smaller, low cost and it has options to add other features.