Nucléide-Lara - Quick user's guide

Library for gamma and alpha emissions

 Simple use (consultation): (Cf. Fig.1)
 (Allows you to display information on a particular nuclide)

  1. Select one (or multiple) nuclide(s) in the 'Nuclide list' or type the name or mass or symbol (e.g. 152Eu or Eu-152 or 152 or Eu) in the 'Nuclide, element or mass number search' text area;
  2. Optionally:
    - Set energy and/or intensity thresholds to display only the emissions above the specified threshold(s);
    - Set γ-γ coincidence threshold (product of intensities of two coincident γ emissions) to only display intense coincidences;
    - Choose to display coincidences;
    - Set display order (by increasing energy or decreasing intensity);
    - In the case of a radioactive chain, choose to display the emissions of the daughters and their display mode (sorted by nuclide or not).
    (Remark: the intensities are displayed considering each daughter at 100%, regardless the branching ratios or the time. For an exact calculation of the intensities of all the decay chain, please use the "Decay tools" function.)
    - Choose to display data, emissions, decay tools and/or decay scheme;
    - Set emission type: X, gamma and/or alpha;
  3. - Choose display language (applied to all frames after restart or by pressing );
  4. Press (or 'Enter') to display the results in the right part of the screen, or to display a magnified decay scheme in a separate window.
  5. The standard uncertainty (k = 1), when defined, is displayed in parentheses.
    It refers to the corresponding last digits, i.e.:
    9.230 (11) means 9.230 ± 0.011 and
    9.2 (11) means 9.2 ± 1.1
  6. For each nuclide, daughters and possible parents are indicated and, if present in the database, a link to their information is displayed.
    It is thus possible to easily navigate through the nuclides constituting a radioactive decay chain.
  7. Links to evaluation files are also provided, when available.

 Advanced use (search): (Cf. Fig.2)
 (Allows you to find nuclides meeting multiple search criteria)

  1. Select one or more of the following:
    - Set decay mode(s): beta+, electron capture (β+,ε), beta- (β-), isomeric transition (IT) and/or alpha (α) and their combination mode: And, Or or XOr (exclusive OR);
    - Set emission type: X, gamma and/or alpha;
    - Set energy ranges (up to 3 energies) and their combination mode: And or Or;
    - Set intensity range;
    - Set atomic mass range;
    - Set atomic number range;
    - Set half-life range;
  2. Press to display the nuclides meeting the search criteria in the middle part of the screen;
  3. Then select the nuclide you want in one of the 'Nuclide lists' (sorted by increasing energy, by decreasing intensity or by mass number) to display the result in the right part of the screen.
  4. Press (or 'Enter') to display the results in the right part of the screen, or to display a magnified decay scheme with highlighted emissions in a separate window (Cf. Fig.3).

 Decay tools: (Cf. Fig.4)
 (Allow you to convert activity to mass or calculate an activity between two moments t1 and t2 or two dates d1 and d2)

    Calculation for a time range (: t1 → t2 )
  1. To calculate the activities for a period of time knowing the initial activities, set A0, t1, t2 and the desired number of calculation steps.
    Only the activities at t0, t1 and t2 are displayed. Intermediate values are stored in the table in memory (cf. Nota).
  2. To calculate the time t1 or t2 needed to obtain a given activity knowing the initial activity, set A0 and A(t1) or A(t2).
  3. In the case of nuclides with radioactive daughters, the total activity of the parent radionuclide and its daughters can be calculated for a given time.
    Daughters can have an initial activity A0 at t0. Their activity A(t1) according to their own decay constant, and the one A*(t1) due to the decay of the parent radionuclide are calculated, as well as the associated sums AT(t1) and AT/Aparent (relative to the parent activity at t1).
  4. To calculate the time needed to obtain a given activity of a daughter knowing the initial activity of the parent, set A0 and A*(t1) or A*(t2) of the considered daughter. If there is no solution, the time t1 (resp. t2) is set to zero, otherwise the result is given according to the chosen time unit.
    Calculation between two dates (: d1 → d2 )
  1. To calculate the activities between two dates knowing the initial activities, set A(d1), d1, d2 and the desired number of calculation steps.
    Only the activities at d1 and d2 are displayed. Intermediate values are stored in the table in memory (cf. Nota).
  2. To calculate the date d2 on which a given activity is reached knowing the initial activity, set d1, A(d1) and A(d2).
  3. In the case of nuclides with radioactive daughters, the total activity of the parent radionuclide and its daughters can be calculated for a given time.
    Daughters can have an initial activity A(d1) at d1. Their activity A(d2) according to their own decay constant, and the one A*(d2) due to the decay of the parent radionuclide are calculated, as well as the associated sums AT(d2) and AT/Aparent (relative to the parent activity at d2).
  4. To calculate the date d2 on which a given activity of a daughter is reached knowing the initial activity of the parent, set A(d1) and A*(d2) of the considered daughter. If there is no solution, the date d2 is set equal to d1 (i.e. d2 - d1 = 0).
    Export of the calculation results of the decay tools:
    - The calculated activities table can be copied to the clipboard using the button and then pasted into a spreadsheet using the CTRL-V or -V sequence.
    - In the case of a radioactive chain, the table also provides the emission intensities of the nuclides of the chain calculated as a function of time.
    Nota:
    - All white fields are user-editable; grey fields are calculated only.
    - The decimal separator used for export is the period if the selected language is "EN" or "EO", or the comma for "FR".

 Remarks:

  1. The 2 left panels ("Nucléide-Lara" and "Search results") may be hidden/shown by clicking on their left vertical tab.
  2. The right panel blocks may be hidden/shown by clicking on the corresponding button: located at the top of the panel or on their title, located at the top of each block.
  3. For energy search criteria:
    - Set energy and step (E ± ΔE) or energy range (Emin - Emax).
    - To search for a specific energy, set energy step to zero (E ± 0).
    - If only lower limit is set, query will return all nuclides with energies greater than this limit.
    - If only upper limit is set, query will return all nuclides with energies lower than this limit.
  4. For other search criteria:
    - If only lower limit is set, query will return all nuclides whose criterion value is greater than this limit.
    - If only upper limit is set, query will return all nuclides whose criterion value is lower than this limit.
    - If lower limit is greater than upper limit, they will automatically be switched in the query.
  5. You can select more than one nuclide in the following nuclide lists: 'Nuclide list:' in the left frame and 'Nuclide (half-life):' in the middle frame: maintain CTRL key pressed and click to select multiple nuclides (Cf. Fig.1 & 2).
  6. When searching nuclides by energy and/or intensity, emissions meeting the search criteria are highlighted in yellow.
    Other significant emissions are highlighted in blue (intensities of same order of magnitude, or higher).
    These emissions are also highlighted in the decay scheme, with one colour per energy range (Cf. Fig.3).
  7. When searching by decay mode:
    - If only one decay mode is selected (when in mode And or Or), all nuclides containing at least this decay mode will be displayed.
    - If XOr is used, all nuclides containing only one of the specified decay modes will be displayed.
  8. When searching by energy range:
    - If And mode is used, only nuclides containing all the specified energies will be displayed.
    - If Or mode is used, all nuclides containing at least one of the specified energies will be displayed.
      Nevertheless, nuclides containing all the specified energies are highlighted with an asterisk in the resulting nuclide list.
  9. It is possible to save each branch of the decay scheme in an SVG file (vector format image) for later use, just by clicking on it (or Right-click and select "Save target as...").
    The SVG files can then be displayed and/or edited with any vector image editing software such as Inkscape for example.

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Fig.1: Simple use (consultation)

Fig.2: Advanced use (search)

Fig.3: Decay scheme with highlighted emissions

Fig.4: Decay tools

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