Absolute determination of the effect of scattering and fluorescence on x-ray attenuation measurements

Abstract

We investigate the effect of x-ray scattering and fluorescence upon measurements of the x-ray mass attenuation coefficient. Measurements of scattering and fluorescence are obtained from a comparison of attenuation measurements using different sized apertures to admit varying amounts of the scattering and fluorescence into the detectors. The result of such a comparison is found to be in good agreement with a theoretical calculation of the fluorescent and scattered photons reaching the ion chambers and, under our experimental conditions, decreases the measured attenuation coefficients of silver by up to 0.2%.