γ Spectrometry

Abstract

The energies of γ photons emitted by excited nuclei are characteristic of those nuclei, just as the energies of visible and UV (ultraviolet) photons emitted by excited atoms are characteristic of those atoms. For atoms the sophisticated science of atomic spectroscopy has been developed to the point where elemental analysis of materials may be undertaken directly from spectra. In much the same way the techniques of γ-ray spectrometry have evolved so that a large number of γ-emitting radionuclides can be identified from their γ-photon spectra. However, before describing the details of γ spectrometry we must consider briefly the variety of ways in which γ-emitting nuclides are formed.