Interaction of X-ray with Matter

Uniscan Online Academy‍

Prepared by: Eyob Melese (Med rad)

Academic director, Uniscan online Academy, Ethiopia
Date: April 13, 2025
Introduction
When a beam of x-ray is incident on a patient, there are number of possible interactions between x-ray and atoms.
- X-ray beam undergoes attenuation – that is reduction of number of primary photon in a beam of radiation.
- This reduction is caused by both the absorption and scattering of primary photons.
Absorption- is the transfer of energy from the radiation to the medium
Scattering- is the change in the direction of the photon with or without the loss of energy by the photon.
Absorption and scattering process
 There are five different process by which x rays may be absorbed or scattered as they pass through
the medium, the first three of which play a role in Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine:-

[Link] Scattering
[Link] Effect
[Link] Scattering
[Link] Production
[Link]
1. Coherent scattering- also known as classical scattering or unmodified scattering.
- is a type of interaction of x-ray photon having energy less than 10 Kev undergo change in direction without
any change in wavelength
- Occurs mainly with very low energy x-ray photons, such as those used in mammography ( 15 to 30 keV)

- There are two types of coherent scattering ;-

A. Thomson scattering- single electron involved in the interaction
B. Rayleigh scattering- results from the cooperative interaction with all electrons in an atom.

Scattering process
1. Absorption of radiation
2. vibration of atom( excited state)
3. emission of radiation as atoms return to its undisturbed state
Characteristics of coherent scattering
❑ Scattered Radiation is with the wavelength equal to that of Incident x-ray.
❑ No energy transferred
❑ No ionization occur
❑ Most of the photons are scattered in forward direction
❑ Accounts for less than 5 % in diagnostic Radiography.
At 70 kvp, 3% x-rays goes classical scattering

2. Compton scattering- also known as inelastic, non classic, modified and incoherent scattering.
In this type of interaction an incident photon having moderate energy strikes with an outer shell electron from its
orbit .
- Electron is ejected from atom and photon is scattered with some reduction in energy
-Scatter x rays emerging from this interaction are called Compton scatter and ejected electron is referred as
recoil electron.
❑ The Compton scattering yields 3 products;-
A. Recoil electron-negative electron ejected by the photon
B. scattered photon
C. A positive ion- atom deficient of one electron
Energy distribution
• Of the x ray photon’s original energy , an amount equal to the binding energy goes into ejecting the electron
from its orbit , a small amount also translates into the kinetic energy or speed with which the Electron is
ejected and the remainder is reemitted as the Compton scatter x ray. Mathematically,
Ep= Es + Eb + Eke,

• Ep = Energy of Incoming x ray photon

• Es= Energy of scatter X ray
• Eb= Absolute value of Binding Energy
• E ke= Kinetic energy of ejected electron.
Factor determining the energy of Photon
The incident photon always retains some of its original energy .

o Two factors determine the amount of energy the photon retains;-

1. Its Initial energy

-In diagnostic energy range up to 150 KeV, the photon retains most of its original energy and very little is transferred to the recoil
electron.
increase initial energy – increases scattered photon energy

2. Angle of deflection
- At narrow angles of deflection, scattered photons retains almost all of their original energy.
Example- Direct hit b/n the photon and electron, the scattered photon will be scattered back with θ= 180 result scattered
photon with minimum energy.
Conclusion of Compton Scattering

• 97 % of scatter x rays originate from Compton interaction.

• Photoelectric effect = subject contrast but Compton scattering = scatter radiation.
• Compton works in opposite to photoelectric effect.
• Scattered x rays from Compton interaction can create serious radiation exposure hazard in
Fluoroscopy.
3. Photoelectric effect
-In this type of interaction, an incident photon of energy equal or greater than orbital binding energy of
innermost shell like K or L shell collides and ionize the atom by ejecting an electron.

- The photoelectric effect always yields three end products

1. Photoelectron- Negative electron ejected by the photon
- has the K.E = E(photon energy)- orbital binding energy

2. Characteristic radiation- - is the radiation produced by the movements of electrons within the atoms.
-A form of secondary photon occurs when orbital shell void of electrons filled by adjacent electrons dropped from
adjacent shell.
E.g K-shell ( void of electrons)- filled from L/ M shell

- The energy is equal to the difference between the binding energies of two shells involved.

3. A positive ion- an atom deficient of one electron

Energy Transfer in Photoelectric Effect
• Energy Transform is 2 step process.
- The 1st -photon transfers all its energy to an electron located in one of the atomic shell and the electron is
ejected from the atom known as photoelectron and begins to pass through surrounding matter penetrates tissues
but never out of patients body and never reach IR.
- The 2nd- Photoelectron deposits the energy in the surrounding.
• Summarily, photon energy is divided in two portion : A portion of the energy is used to overcome electrons
binding energy and to remove it from atom. The remaining energy is transferred to electron as KE and is
deposited near interaction site.
.
 Probability of occurrence
Three simple rules govern the probability of a photoelectric reaction;-

1. The incident photon must have sufficient energy to overcome the binding energy of the electron
E.g. K-shell binding energy of iodine – 33.2 KeV
An X-ray photon with energy 33.0 KeV- can’t eject electron from this shell( K-shell)

2. A photoelectric reaction is most likely to occur when the photon energy and the electron binding energy are nearly the same
E.g. 34 KeV photon energy more likely to react with K- shell of iodine than 100 KeV photon.

3. The tighter an electron is bound in its orbit, the more likely it is to be involved in a photoelectric reaction.
- Electrons more tightly bound in elements with high atomic number than elements with low atomic number.
low atomic number- interaction mostly occur in K-shell due to K-shell is tightly bounded electrons
High atomic number- interaction occur in the L & M shells
Generally, increases in atomic number- more likely photoelectric effect.
Application to diagnostic radiology
 Don’t produce scatter radiation and secondary radiation
 Enhance natural tissue contrast
 Patient exposure is much higher than any other type of interaction
- minimized by using high energy( Kvp) technique.
4. Pair Production
- Do not occur in diagnostic radiology
- An incident photon having energy > 1.02 MeV escape interaction with the electron shells and come close enough to the nucleus
of an atom and subjected to strong electrostatic field of the nucleus.
- The energy is converted into matter in the form of two particles:-

A. ordinary electron
B. Positron- a particle with the same mass of an electron but with a positive charge.
- This process is an example for conversion of energy into mass predicted by Einstein( E = mc2 )
- It is true absorption b/c all of the energy of the original photon is transformed
- Threshold energy for Pair production process is 1.02 MeV
- The pair production increases with increasing energy of incident photon and increasing atomic number.
Positron annihilation
After the pair production, the electron comes to rest by joining with an atom. The positron comes to rest by combining with an
electron
- The two particles annihilate each other
- The combined mass of the two particles is converted into energy in the form of two photons( each photon = 0.5 MeV)
This process is called Positron annihilation, it forms the basis for PET.
5. photodisintegration
- very high energy x-ray photons( with energy greater than 10 MeV) can escape interaction with electron and the nucleus
electrostatic field and be absorbed directly by the nucleus
- when this happens the nucleus is raised to an excited state and instantaneously emits nucleon or other nuclear fragment.
Relative frequency of basic interactions – in diagnostic radiology energy range
Coherent- 5%
Compton scattering- 20%
photoelectric effect- 75%

 Compton scattering- dominant at high energy photon and low atomic number
- it dominates in air, water and soft tissue

 Photoelectric absorption- dominates at low energy photon and high atomic number
- it dominates in contrast , lead and screen- film system

N.B- Both are important in bone

SUMMARY
• Two Interaction of x radiation : photoelectric absorption and Compton scattering are of Important in Diagnostic
Radiology
• The photoelectric Effect is the basis of Radiographic Imaging whereas the Compton effect is its bane.
• Within the energy range of Diagnostic Radiology 23 to 150 kvp which also includes mammography , when kvp is
decreased the number of photoelectric interaction increases but the Compton interaction decreases however dose to
patient increases.
• When kvp is increased patient receives a lower dose but the image quality is compromised.
• Compton Effect is responsible for vast majority of scatter Radiation.