Interaction Of Photons And Neutrons With Matter

This text presents the fundamental physics of radiation interactions, enabling students to understand the literature on applications of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation in materials research.

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This book is based on lecture notes developed for a one-semester graduate course entitled “The Interaction of Radiation with Matter”, taught in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The main objective of the course is to teach enough quantum and classical radiation theory to allow students in engineering and the applied sciences to understand and have access to the vast literature on applications of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation in materials research. Besides presenting the fundamental physics of radiation interactions, the book devotes individual chapters to some of the important modern-day experimental tools, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, photon correlation spectroscopy, and the various types of neutron, x-ray and light-scattering techniques.