ABSTRACT
To provide an answer, one must examine how the photon interacts and what happens to its energy.
12.2.1 ENERGY DEPOSITION BY PHOTONS WITH E < 1.022 MEV A photon with E < 1.022 MeV can interact only through the photoelectric or the Compton effect. If a photoelectric interaction takes place, the photon disappears and an electron appears with energy equal to E – Be, where Be is the binding energy of that electron. e range of electrons in a solid, either a scintillator crystal or a semiconductor, is so short that it can be safely assumed that all the electron energy will be deposited in the detector (Figure 12.1a). If the interaction occurs very close to the wall, the electron may deposit only part of its energy in the counter (Figure 12.1b), but the probability of this happening is small. In practice, one assumes that all the photoelectrons deposit all their energy in the detector. is energy is less than the energy of the incident photon by the amount Be, the binding energy of the electron. What happens to the energy Be?
