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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Supralinearity of nuclear research emulsions. [Mimics radiation response of biological systems]

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7234315
Nuclear emulsions processed in discriminating developers intended to suppress small latent sites, exhibit supralinear sensitometric blackness-exposure curves, whose character varies according to developing time, concentration, and composition, yielding hittedness ranging from 1 to 8, singly and in combination. These emulsion-processing combinations display the phenomena called ion-kill (sensitization by the transit of a single charged particle) and gamma-kill (sensitization by the overlap of secondary electron paths, whether from x-rays or from the delta-rays from heavy ions) in radiobiology. Here emulsions are blackened by x-rays when these same plates reveal no electron tracks, or no alpha-particle tracks, or even no fission-fragment tracks. The supralinearity of the emulsion response to x-rays, and the consequent suppression of low LET radiations suggest that these materials have the potential to mimic the response of biological systems to particulate radiations of different charge and speed.
Research Organization:
Nebraska Univ., Lincoln (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-S-02-1671
OSTI ID:
7234315
Report Number(s):
COO-1671-70; CONF-760964-2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English