Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

11-27-1964

Abstract

If a resistor in a circuit is exposed to a transient gamma radiation pulse, the condition of the circuit will be modified by passing from its steady state condition before radiation to a state of excitation that will depend upon the intensity and duration of the radiation pulse. When the radiation pulse is over, the circuit will then relax to its previous condition of equilibrium within a characteristic time constant.

When energetic radiation, such as gamma radiation, charged particles, or neutrons, strikes matter, it causes several effects which alter the properties of the target material. Some of the effects that occur are ionization of atoms and molecules, displacement of atoms, transmutation of atoms, insertion of extraneous atoms, or changing of chemical bonds. High-energy gamma rays can undergo interactions with a nucleus, producing excitation and transmutations. But these effects are negligible for transient radiation effects produced by typical gamma ray sources compared with photoelectric, Compton, and pair production effects, and can be ignored (Reference15). In this report we shall mainly concern ourselves with the production of free electrons by incident radiation, as we are concerned with transient radiation effects due to pulsed gamma radiation.

In resistors, the observed transient effect is mainly due to secondary electron emission. The secondary electron contri­bution is not just due to the electrons liberated from the resis­tor material; it is also due to the emitted secondary electrons from the resistor environment which contribute to the transient effect.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Electrical Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Wayne Willis Grannemann

Second Committee Member

Harold Dean Southward

Third Committee Member

William Jackson Byatt

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