Interaction of gamma ray photons with some biological samples

Abstract

Gamma ray interaction with some biological samples such as bone, chlorophyll, cholesterol, flesh, glucose, haemoglobin, muscle and uric acid has been investigated at some incident photon energies, which are available from commonly used gamma ray sources such as Am241, Ba133, Hg203, Na22, Cs137, Mn54, Zn65 and Co60. In this energy range (59.54 - 1332 keV), Compton scattering is a dominant photon interaction process. The gamma ray photon interaction with biological samples has been visualized mainly in terms of mass attenuation coefficients and energy absorption buildup factors. From the present investigations, it has been concluded that while exposing large dimensional biological sample to the lower energy incident photons, care must be taken for buildup of the photons.