calibrated HgeO3 source was used.

This use of the calibrated

standards allowed a constant check to be made on the stabil-

ity of the equipment (see Appendix I).
ANALYSIS OF DATA

The pulse height spectrum of a monoenergetic gamma ray

consists of a total absorption peak and continuous "Compton"

-. 4

distribution.
Mev,

If the energy of the gamma ray is above 1.02

pair production begins to take place and one of two

secondary pesks is contributed to, according to whether one
or both of the annihilation quanta escape from the crystal.

The peaks all have the shape of normal distribution functions

or "Gaussians" because of the statistical nature of the
photoelectric effect and the secondary-emission phenomenon
inherent in the operation of a photomultiplier tube.

If two incident gamma energies are present, the lower
is superimposed additively on the continuous Compton dis-

tribution of the higher.

An example of the idealized

addition of three different monoenergetic gamma rays is
snown in Fig. 3.

As more gamma energies are added the

resulting confusion becomes progressively worse.
higher energies are above 1.02 Mev,

(If the

the presence of

annihilation radiation escape peaks further complicates

the spectrum and thus

the analysis.)
10

Select target paragraph3