Stopping Power

RADIATION DETECTION TERMINOLOGY Radiation Detectors clips become attached to the magnet. The same is true of a particle passing by a group of atoms at a given distance. The slower a particle travels, the more atoms it affects. Stopping Power Stopping power or linear energy transfer (LET) is the energy lost per unit path length. Equation 6-2 expresses this relationship. (6-2) S LET DE DX where S = stopping power LET = linear energy transfer DE = energy lost DX = path length of travel Specific ionization times the energy per ion pair yields the stopping power (LET), as shown in Equation 6-3. (6-3) S � � � � � � ion pairs path length � � � � � � energy ion pairs energy path length Stopping power, or LET, is proportional to the specific ionization. IC-06 Page 2 Rev. 0