Tritium spectrum

[luuk]

Please read the attachment.
Luuk

[pietkuip]

Why could not this be Bremsstrahlung? The beta particle has energies up to 18.6 keV. The low-energy x-rays get absorbed by the air, the glass, the window.

[luuk]

Hallo Pieter,
I am not a physicist but an electronic engineer but I was always told that bremsstralung is shown as a continuum is and I see a clear peak not a continuum.
I spoke with my boss(a physicist) about it and he also did not thought it was bremsstralung, but could not explain what it was.
Luuk

[pietkuip]

I put one of these Gaseous Tritium Light Sources in front of our Amptek silicon detector over the weekend. It has better resolution. Most of the spectrum is Bremsstrahlung, but there are also two clear peaks. Those are the characteristic emission lines of zinc. The Ka peak is more attenuated by the plastic than the Kb peak.

So there is probably a doped zinc oxide in there to produce the fluorescence.