Electron inelastic interactions in bioorganic compounds in the energy range of 20–10000 eV

Systematic calculations of stopping powers (SPs) and mean free paths (MFPs) for 10 bioorganic compounds have been performed for electrons with energies lower than 10 keV, based on dielectric response theory and Penn’s statistical approximation. The exchange effect is also taken into account in the calculations. An empirical approach to obtain an optical energy loss function is presented for those organic compounds without available optical data. Using this method, the calculated values of the optical energy loss function are in good agreement with experimental data. Comparisons of SP and MFP values derived in this study with other published values are presented. Using the described model, the calculated mean ionization potentials agree well with the predictions from Bragg’s rule and the calculated SPs have also been compared with the Bethe–Bloch results at an energy of 10 keV. PACS 34.50.Bw; 61.82.Pv