In dem Bericht werden Strahlungsquelle aufgeführt, die den Untergrund bei der Messung geringer Radioaktivitäten verursachen und dargestellt wie zur Unterdrückung der kosmischen Strahlung Laboratorien untertägig eingerichtet werden und wie durch Koinzidenz und Antikoinzidenzverfahren der verbleibende Untergrund weiter reduziert werden kann. / The radiation sources are described, which causes the background at the measurement of low radioactivities. To reduce the influence of cosmic rays counting devises are installed in underground laboratories. The remaining background may be further reduced by coincidence and anti-coincidence methods.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Einsatz von Positronenemittern zur Bestimmung der Dichte eines zweiphasigen Mediums beschrieben. Zur Messung wird die Dichteabhängigkeit der Positronenreichweite ausgenutzt. Die Realisierbarkeit des Verfahrens wird zunächst in einer Computersimulation geprüft. Danach werden Experimente an einem hochauflösenden PET-Scanner vorgestellt. Bei diesen Experimenten wird die Dichteabhängigkeit der Reichweite von Positronen anhand von Modellmedien aus festen Schaumstoffen untersucht. Dabei werden die in der Computersimulation erzielten Ergebnisse bestätigt. Aus den experimentellen Ergebnissen wird ein Modell zur Beschreibung der Abnahme der Koinzidenzrate in Abhängigkeit von der Entfernung des Detektors von der Positronenquelle und der Mediendichte entwikkelt. Auf der Basis des Modells erfolgt die Konzipierung einer für die Dichtemessung optimierten Detektoranordnung. Die Funktionsweise dieses Detektorsystems wird in Form technischer Unterlagen und experimenteller Ergebnisse beschrieben. Mit dem optimierten Detektorsystem werden die Untersuchungen an den Modellmedien nochmals durchgeführt, wobei die bisherigen Ergebnisse bestätigt werden. Das beschriebene Meßverfahren dient der Bestimmung der mittleren Dichte in einem überwiegend gasförmigen Medium, wobei eine Mittelwertbildung über das Meßvolumen erfolgt. Das Verfahren kombiniert die Vorteile bekannter densitometrischer Meßmethoden auf der Basis einer Schwächung von Strahlung, indem die hohe Dichtesensitivität der Positronenstrahlung mit der relativ geringen Absorption der energiereichen Annihilationsquanten kombiniert wird.

A high-efficiency gamma-ray counting system has been built at Los Alamos National Laboratory for use in analyzing nuclear forensics samples. This system consists of two clover high-purity germanium detectors and is surrounded by a thallium-doped sodium iodide annulus. Special precautions have been taken to ensure the system has a low background. The system is connected to XIA Pixie-4 fast digitizers and collects data in list-mode. This work is split into two main parts. The first part describes the proper steps and techniques to initialize the settings of a detector system connected to fast digitizers in order to optimize the system for resolution and throughput. The various counting modes for this particular system are described in detail, including the benefits and drawbacks of each mode. Steps are then shown to characterize the system by obtaining efficiency curves for various counting modes and sample geometries. Because of the close counting geometry involved with this system, true-coincidence summing factors must be calculated, and are done so in part by measuring the peak-to-total ratios of the system in its various counting modes across a wide energy range. The dead-time for the system can be complicated due to the multiple inputs of the system. Techniques for calculating the dead-time of multiple-detector systems are discussed. The second part of this work shows the system's usefulness in analyzing nuclear forensics samples, specifically irradiated enriched uranium. Three fission product parent-daughter pairs of different lifetimes are analyzed over a course of six months. The activities of each nuclide are calculated at each time step. Age dating techniques using the parent-daughter pairs are discussed, as well as the detection limits of each nuclide for a range of sample ages. Finally, avenues for further research are presented, as well as potential sources of error or uncertainty for this work. / text

The nuclides present in spent nuclear fuel are categorized according to their capacity for detection by Compton suppression or gamma-gamma coincidence methods. The fifty nuclides with the highest activities in spent fuel are identified, their decay schemes analyzed, and the best detection scheme for each is recommended. / text

This thesis is based on a selection of six different experimental techniques used for studies in atomic and molecular physics. The techniques analysed in the thesis are compared to find similarities in strategies and ways to avoid sources of error. Paper 1 deals with collision based spectroscopy with 60 keV Xe6+ ions on sodium and argon gas targets. Information on energy of Rydberg states in Xe5+ is unveiled by optical spectroscopy in the wavelength range from vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to visible. In paper 2, the fast ion-beam laser spectroscopy (FIBLAS) is adapted for measuring hyperfine structure of barium isotopes in an isotopically pure ion-beam. This techniques involves changing the isotope during the measurement to minimize sources of error in measurement and enhance the signal from lesser abundant isotopes. The FIBLAS technique is used in paper 3 to study samarium ions. The ions are optically pumped and the recorded optical nutation is used to measure transition probabilities. This technique eludes the difficulties inherent in relative intensity measurements of all the radiative transitions from an excited state. In Paper 4, optical emission spectroscopy is used in the VUV region to study noble gas mixture discharges. The source of the emission bands near the resonance lines of krypton and xenon are found to be heteronuclear dimers. In paper 5, radiation from a pulsed argon plasma with admixture of nitrogen is studied with time resolved spectroscopy in the VUV and ultraviolet wavelength ranges to investigate the mechanism of energy transport. A metastable state of atomic argon is found to be an important source of energy to many radiative processes. In Paper 6, photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) on thiophene, on 3-bromothiophene and on 3,4-dibromothiophene using time-of-flight photoelectron-photoelectron coincidence technique and conventional PES to investigate the onset of double ionisation compared to the onset of single ionisation in molecules.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:47:30Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_mv_me_sjrp.pdf: 471794 bytes, checksum: eb8010c830dbd94ac9f17418379b492f (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O objetivo principal deste trabalho é apresentar em detalhes um estudo sobre dois critérios para G-coincidências de aplicações de um espaço particular X em um CW complexo, onde G é um grupo finito. No primeiro critério G é o grupo cíclico de ordem p, com p um primo ímpar e X é uma esfera de dimensão ímpar. No segundo critério, que estende o primeiro, G é um grupo finito qualquer e X é um CW complexo com o mesmo tipo de homotopia de uma esfera de dimensão ímpar. Para o estudo desses critérios foram necessários alguns resultados da teoria de cohomologia de grupos finitos com ênfase em grupos com cohomologia periódica segundo a teoria de cohomologia de Tate. / The main objective of htis work is to present in details a study about two criteria for G-coincidences of maps from a particular spaca X into a CW-complex, where G is a finite group. In the first criterion G is the cyclic group of order p, with p an odd prime and X is an odd dimensional sphere. In the second criterion, wich extends the firt, G is any finite group and X is a CW-complex with the same type of homotopy of an odd dimensional sphere. For the study of those criteria were needed some results from the theory of cohomology of finite groups with emphasis on groups with periodic cohomology according to the Tate cohomology theory.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:42:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

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