AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Compton scattering in x ray2/17/2024 That was the first time Compton considered the possibility of simultaneous scattering and emission events. Perhaps, he hypothesized, the polarization could be maintained if the secondary emission were to occur at the same instant an electron scattered the primary emission. But truly scattered light should not change its energy. Then, in collaboration with Charles Hagenow, Compton found that the fluorescent radiation was completely polarized: a result that could be naturally explained as scattered light. Now Compton was able to show for certain that, contrary to two other contemporaneous findings, 4 the longer wavelength fluorescent radiation he had first seen in gamma rays persisted in x-ray scattering. 4 But with a 5 pm radius, his proposed spherical electron was still enormous! “Problems to be tackled at Saint Louis” Interestingly, Compton still relied on diffraction to account for the angular distribution, although his results forced him to abandon the ring-shaped electron in favor of a solid, spherical model. In contrast, Compton ascribed the longer-wavelength fluorescent radiation to Doppler-shifted emission from high-velocity electrons set in motion by the primary beam. As required by classical electromagnetism, truly scattered rays had the same wavelength as the primary beam. Compton deemed that effect a new type of fluorescence: Guided by a strong classical intuition, he had begun to delineate the secondary rays into “truly scattered” and fluorescent radiation. He soon found that the energy of secondary rays decreased unexpectedly when scattered to higher angles. Replacing Rutherford’s venerable gold-leaf electroscope with his own four-quadrant design, Compton proceeded to study gamma-ray scattering.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |