K-SHELL X-RAY PRODUCTION BY PROTONS IN VACUUM AND GASEOUS ENVIRONMENT

The yields of Kα x-ray production from the bombardment of metal targets with protons were measured in vacuum and in gaseous environment (external beam technique) for proton energies between 1.5 and 8 MeV. For the measurements in gaseous environment the influence of the secondary electrons (delta electrons) emitted from the gas, to the x-ray yields was investigated. For this purpose a suitable model was introduced and tested experimentally. Finally, the experimental K shell ionization and x-ray production cross sections were calculated for the same targets and compared with three theoretical and two semiempirical approximations.