Principle
Photons of the molybdenum Kα X-ray line are scattered at the quasi-free electrons of an acrylic glass cuboid. The energy of the scattered photons is determined in an angle-dependent manner with the aid of a swivelling semiconductor detector and a multi-channel analyser.
Tasks
- Energy calibration of the multi-channel analyser with the aid of the two characteristic molybdenum X-ray lines Kα and Kβ.
- Energy determination of the photons of the Mo-Kα-line that are scattered through an acrylic glass element as a function of the scattering angle.
- Comparison of the measured energy values of the lines of scatter with the calculated energy values.
- Calculation of the Compton wavelength of electrons and a comparison of this value with the corresponding value of the 90° scattering.
Learning objectives
- Bremsstrahlung
- Characteristic X-radiation
- Compton scattering
- Compton wavelength
- Conservation of energy and momentum
- Rest mass and rest energy of the electron
- Relativistic electron mass and energy
- Semiconductor detector
- Multichannel analyser