Study of the X-Ray Radiation in Metal-Containing Composites Irradiated with Neutrons and Photons

Abstract

Secondary X-ray radiation is studied upon the neutron and photon irradiation of composites. The characteristic X-ray radiation and conversion electrons arising from the capture of slowing neutrons of the DT reaction by liquid-crystal DNA–Gd structures are studied for their effects on biological cells. The liquid-crystal structure in the form of microparticles with a volume of 0.1 µm³ contains 10 000 Gd atoms per DNA molecule. During the neutron irradiation of biological samples with a concentration of 1000 DNA-Gd particles per cell, cells are damaged by secondary radiation at a thermal neutron fluence of ~10¹¹ n/cm². A high-purity germanium (HPGe) spectrometer is used to study the radiation-protective properties and characteristic X-ray radiation of a Pb-containing composite upon irradiation with photons from cobalt-57 with an activity of 100 kBq.