Determination of mass attenuation coefficients, effective atomic and electron numbers for some natural minerals

The total mass attenuation coefficients (μm) for SiO2 {Quartz (1 1 0 1), Quartz (1 1 0 0) and Quartz (0 0 0 1)}, KAlSi3O8 {Orthoclase (0 1 0), Orthoclase (1 0 0)}, CaSO4·2H2O (gypsum), FeS2 (pyrite) and Mg2Si2O6 (pyroxene) natural minerals were measured at 22.1, 25.0, 59.5 and 88.0 keV photon energies. The γ- and X-rays were counted by a Si(Li) detector with a resolution of 160 eV at 5.9 keV. Atomic and electronic cross sections (σt and σe), the effective atomic and electron numbers or electron densities (Zeff and Neff) were determined using the obtained μm values for investigated samples.