Studies of total bremsstrahlung in thick targets of Al, Ti, Sn and Pb for 90Sr beta particles in the photon energy region of 1-100Â keV

Total bremsstrahlung (BS) spectra in thick targets of Al, Ti, Sn and Pb produced by beta emitter 90Sr (End point energy=546 keV) are studied in the photon energy range of 1-100 keV. The experimentally measured BS spectra are compared with the theoretical spectral distributions calculated from Elwert corrected (non relativistic) Bethe-Heitler [EBH] theory, modified Elwert factor (relativistic) Bethe-Heitler [Fmod BH] theory for ordinary bremsstrahlung (OB) and the Avdonina and Pratt [Fmod BH+PB] theory, which include the contribution of polarization bremsstrahlung (PB) into OB. The present results are indicating the correctness of Fmod BH+PB theory in the low energy region, where PB dominates into the BS, but at the middle and higher photon energy region of the bremsstrahlung spectrum, the Fmod BH theory is more close to the experimental results. The description of the bremsstrahlung process in stripped atom (SA) approximation, which indicates the suppression of the bremsstrahlung at higher energy ends due to the production of PB in the low energy region, needs further considerations. Hence, the present measurements for BS for different target materials indicates that the considerations of the screening effects along with other secondary effects during the interaction of incident electrons with the target nuclei are important while describing the production of bremsstrahlung, particularly for the higher energy regions.