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S Pszona

Publications and source records attributed to S Pszona.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Clusters of ionisation in nanometre targets for propane-experiments with a Jet Counter.

Further evidence on the reliability of the device called the Jet Counter (JC) for studying the formation of ionisation clusters at the nanometre level are presented. The new experimental data on the distributions of ionisation cluster size originating from a 2-10 nm size target in propane irradiated by 3.8 MeV alpha particles are described. The JC consists of a pulse-operated valve that injects an expanding jet of propane into an interaction chamber, where a sensitive volume in the form of a cylinder is created. The sensitive volume was irradiated by 3.8 MeV alpha particles. The resulting distribution of ion clusters, ranging from 2 to 10 nm in unit density gas, has been measured. A method of determining the efficiency of registration of single propane ions using an ion detector is described. A method of deconvolution of the measured to true cluster size distributions is also given. Finally, the measured cluster size distributions are compared with modelled distributions based on Monte Carlo calculations. The results for propane together with previous ones for nitrogen indicate the JC to be an efficient tool for the investigation of radiation quality at the nanometre level.

Algorithms↗

Experimental equivalent cluster-size distributions in nanometric volumes of liquid water.

Ionisation cluster-size distributions in nanometric volumes of liquid water were determined for alpha particles at 4.6 and 5.4 MeV by measuring cluster-size frequencies in small gaseous volumes of nitrogen or propane at low gas pressure as well as by applying a suitable scaling procedure. This scaling procedure was based on the mean free ionisation lengths of alpha particles in water and in the gases measured. For validation, the measurements of cluster sizes in gaseous volumes and the cluster-size formation in volumes of liquid water of equivalent size were simulated by Monte Carlo methods. The experimental water-equivalent cluster-size distributions in nitrogen and propane are compared with those in liquid water and show that cluster-size formation by alpha particles in nitrogen or propane can directly be related to those in liquid water.

Algorithms↗

The track structure of alpha-particles from the point of view of ionization-cluster formation in "nanometric" volumes of nitrogen.

Probability distributions of the size of ion clusters created in "nanometric" volumes of nitrogen by single alpha-particles of a gold-plated 241Am source, were measured and compared with those calculated by Monte Carlo methods in the same geometry. The diameter of the sensitive volumes had a mass per area of between 0.015 microgram/cm2 and 1.3 micrograms/cm2 which, for a material at unit density, corresponds to a nanometric target volume 0.15-13 nm in diameter. These nanometre sizes were simulated experimentally in a device called the Jet Counter. This consists of a pulse-operated valve which injects into an interaction chamber an expansion jet of molecular nitrogen gas, which is crossed by a narrow beam of alpha-particles. The resulting ions are counted and analyzed from the point of view of ionization cluster formation. The measured or calculated cluster size probabilities prove that the formation of ionization clusters along a "nanometre" track is governed by Poisson's law only in the case of very small target volumes, due to the contributions by secondary electrons. The present ionization cluster probabilities produced in "nanometric" volumes 0.15-13 nm in diameter, are the first ever determined experimentally and confirmed by Monte Carlo simulation.

Alpha Particles↗

The formation of ionisation clusters by alpha particles in 'nanometric' volumes of nitrogen: experiment and calculation.

Probability distributions of the size of ion clusters created in 'nanometric' cylindrical volumes of nitrogen by single 4.6 MeV alpha particles were measured and compared with those calculated by Monte Carlo simulation. The diameter of the sensitive volume had a mass per area of between 0.015 and 1.3 micrograms.cm-2 which, for a material at unit density, corresponds to a diameter of between 0.15 nm and 13 nm. These nanometre sizes were simulated experimentally in a device called Jet Counter. The measured or calculated cluster size probabilities confirmed that the formation of ionisation clusters along a 'nanometre' track can be characterised by Poisson's distribution only for very small targets. The present ionisation cluster probabilities produced in 'nanometric' volumes, 2 to 10 nm in diameter, are the first ever determined experimentally and confirmed by Monte Carlo simulation.

Alpha Particles↗

Ionisation clusters at DNA level: experimental modelling.

The importance of initial clustered damage to DNA is a hypothesis, which has to be approached also from physical modelling of the initial products of single charged particle interaction with DNA. A new tool for such studies, presented here, is based on modelling of the ionisation patterns resulting from a single charged particle crossing a nitrogen cavity of nanometre size. The nanometre size sites equivalent in unit density to DNA and nucleosome, have been modelled in a device, called a Jet Counter, consisting of a pulse operated valve which injects nitrogen in the form of an expansion jet into an interaction chamber. The distributions of the number of ions in a cluster created by a single alpha particle of 4.6 MeV along 0.15 nm to 13 nm size in nitrogen have been measured. A new descriptor of radiation action at DNA level is proposed.

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