Stopping power (particle radiation)

In nuclear and materials physics, stopping power is the retarding force acting on charged particles, typically alpha and beta particles, due to interaction with matter, resulting in loss of particle kinetic energy.[1] [2] Stopping power is also interpreted as the rate at which a material absorbs the kinetic energy of a charged particle. Its application is important in a wide range of thermodynamic areas such as radiation protection, ion implantation and nuclear medicine.[3]

Graphic showing relationships between radioactivity and detected ionizing radiation
  1. ^ Bragg, W. H. (1905). "On the α particles of radium, and their loss of range in passing through various atoms and molecules". Phil. Mag. 10 (57): 318. doi:10.1080/14786440509463378.
  2. ^ Bohr, N. (1913). "On the Theory of the Decrease of Velocity of Moving Electrified Particles on passing through Matter". Phil. Mag. 25 (145): 10. doi:10.1080/14786440108634305.
  3. ^ ICRU Report 73: Stopping of Ions heavier than Helium, Journal of the ICRU, 5 No. 1 (2005), Oxford Univ. Press ISBN 0-19-857012-0