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Attenuation factor

(Science: radiobiology) a measure of the opacity of a layer of material for radiation transversing it, the ratio of the incident intensity to the transmitted intensity. It is equal to Io/I, where Io and i are the intensities of the incident and emergent radiation, respectively. In the usual sense of exponential absorption (i = Ioe- m x), the attenuation factor is e- m x, where x is the thickness of the material and m is the absorption coefficient.