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Attenuation length

Attenuation length, in high-energy and medical physics, is the distance $τ$ into a material when the probability has dropped to $\frac{1}{e}$ that a particle has not been attenuated :

$P(x) = e^{-(\frac{x}{\tau})}$

This curve has the same shape as the exponential decay curve and $τ$ is material dependant.

In other words, it is the length of a particular material that you would need to stop a good portion ( $1 - \frac{1}{e}$ or about 63%) of the particles traversing it.

Categories: Physics

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01-04-2007 01:21:04

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