The Scattering of Hard X-Rays

Citation

Jordan, Walter Harrison (1934) The Scattering of Hard X-Rays. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/6z8v-zw43. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:09232024-154746830

Abstract

An experimental investigation of the scattering of hard, monochromatic x-rays was undertaken to test the validity of the Compton, Dirac-Gordon, and Klein-Nishina formulas. X-rays from a tube excited by voltages up to 1,000 k.v. were monochromatized by means of a crystal spectrometer. A monochromatic beams x-rays of wave-length 24 x-u. was passed through a C.T.R. Wilson expansion chamber. Stereoscopic pictures were taken of the Compton recoil electrons originating in the atoms of the gas in the expansion chamber. These photographs were analyzed, and the spatial distribution of the recoil electrons was studied.

The mathematical transformations necessary to reduce the scattering formulas to a form more easily tested by experiment, is presented.

It was concluded that the Klein-Nishina formula, which is based upon Dirac's relativistic interpretation of the quantum mechanics, was the one most nearly in accord with the experimental results. Small systematic differences were observed, however, which were thought to exceed the experimental error. The Dirac-Gordon formula, based on the Schroedinger wave-mechanics, was shown to be in bad disagreement.

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