X-Ray yields from K-shell ionization by α particles

Abstract

The characteristic K x-ray yields are measured in Sn, Te, Ce, Sm¹⁴⁴, Sm¹⁵², Sm¹⁵⁴, Gd¹⁶⁰, W¹⁸⁶, and Pb, by bombarding them with a particles of energy 4 and 3 MeV. No excess of x-ray yield has been observed in the atoms of deformed even-even nuclei, when the observed data were corrected for the x-ray contribution due to internal conversion by using the theoretical values of K-shell internal-conversion coefficients. The observed variation of the number of K-shell vacancies per microcoulomb with the atomic number indicates that the E2 internal-conversion coefficients and also the probability for K-shell ionization are unaffected by nuclear deformation.