Investigation of Saturation Thickness of Sn Using Backscattering Technique

In this paper, the energy dependence of saturation thickness for Sn target has been investigated at different gamma rays photon energies of 122, 511 and 662 keV using backscattering technique. The back scattered photon spectra for different thicknesses (0.2 – 2.13 cm) of tin (50Sn) has been recorded using scintillator detector GAMMA-RAD5 (dimensions 76 mm × 76 mm; energy resolution of 7% at 662 keV) coupled with multi-channel analyzer (MCA) based on Amptek’s DP5G Digital Pulse Processor. It has been observed that the intensity of backscattered photon increases with increase in target thickness and saturates beyond a particular value called the saturation thickness; which also varies with incident photon energy. In the energy region of 122-662 keV, the saturation thickness for tin decreases with the increase in incident photon energy. This parameter can be further used to assign effective atomic numbers to composite materials (Compounds/mixtures).