Book contents
- Front Matter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Historical introduction
- 2 The continuous X-ray spectrum
- 3 Characteristic X-rays
- 4 Experimental techniques for the study of X-rays
- 5 The absorption and scattering of X-rays
- 6 X-ray production by protons, α-particles and heavy ions
- 7 X-rays in radioactive decay
- 8 Some additional fields of X-ray study
- Appendix 1 Range–energy relations, etc., for electrons
- Appendix 2 Experimentally determined mass attenuation coefficients
- Appendix 3 Decay schemes of some radionuclides
- Appendix 4 Absorption edges and characteristic emission energies in KeV
- Appendix 5 K-shell fluorescence yields
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - The absorption and scattering of X-rays
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Front Matter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Historical introduction
- 2 The continuous X-ray spectrum
- 3 Characteristic X-rays
- 4 Experimental techniques for the study of X-rays
- 5 The absorption and scattering of X-rays
- 6 X-ray production by protons, α-particles and heavy ions
- 7 X-rays in radioactive decay
- 8 Some additional fields of X-ray study
- Appendix 1 Range–energy relations, etc., for electrons
- Appendix 2 Experimentally determined mass attenuation coefficients
- Appendix 3 Decay schemes of some radionuclides
- Appendix 4 Absorption edges and characteristic emission energies in KeV
- Appendix 5 K-shell fluorescence yields
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Absorption and scattering cross-sections
The interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter represents one of the most varied classes of phenomena in the whole of experimental physics. Even within the range of energies normally associated with X-rays (itself covering several orders of magnitude of the electromagnetic spectrum) many different processes occur, all of which possess their own individual characteristics.
The nature of the matter with which the radiation interacts offers almost as wide a range of phenomena as does the nature of the radiation. This is true even within the relatively restricted domain of X-ray physics. For example, the subject of X-ray crystallography is essentially a study of the interactions between ordered matter and a radiation field, and any discussion of the absorption and scattering processes in crystals must have as its basis the collective behaviour of a large number of atoms bound by chemical bonds or other interatomic forces into a recognisable structure.
However, in the present work we are concerned mainly with situations in which the overall behaviour of an absorber or scatterer can be deduced by regarding it as a collection of individual atoms each absorbing or scattering independently of its surroundings. In such cases we can assert that interactions between X- or γ-ray photons and matter are single, identifiable, processes, each associated with an individual atom, and can therefore be characterised by a cross-section.
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- Information
- X-rays in Atomic and Nuclear Physics , pp. 198 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1990