4-3 SCATTERING BY AN ATOM

When an x-ray beam encounters an atom, each electron in it scatters part of the radiation
coherently in accordance with the thompson equation. One might also expect the nucleus to take
part in the coherent scattering, since it also bears a charge and should be capable of oscillating
under the influence of the incident beam. However , the nucleus has an extremely large mass
relative to that of the electron and cannot be made to oscillate to any appreciable extent; in fact, the
thomson equation shows that the intensity of coherent scattering is inversely proportional to the
square of the mass of the scattering particle. Thenet effect is that coherent scattering by an atom is
due only to the electrons contained in that atom.

The following question then arises: is the wave scattered by an atom simply the sum of the waves
scattered by its component electrons? More precisely, does an atom of atomic number Z, i.e., an
atom containing Z electrons, scatter a wave whose amplitude is Z times the amplitude of the wave
scattered by a single electron? The answer is yes, if the scattering is in the forward direction (2Ө = 0),
because the waves scattered by all the electrons of the atom are then in phase and the amplitude of
all scattered waves can be added directly.

This is not true for other direction of scattering. The fact that the electrons of an atom are situated
at different points in space introduces differences in phase between the waves scattered by different
electrons. Consider fig.4-5, in which for simplicity, the electrons are shown as points arranged
around the central nucleus. The waves scattered in the forward direction by electrons A and B are
exactly in phase on wave front such as XX’ , because each wave has traveled the same distance
before and scattering . The other scattered waves shown in the figure, however, have a path
difference equal to (CB – AD) and are thus somewhat out of phase along a wave front such as YY’,
the path difference being less than one wavelength. Partial interference occurs between the waves
scattered by A and B, with the result that the net amplitude of the wave scattered in this direction is
less than that of the wave scattered by the same electrons in the forward direction.

A quantity f, the atomic scattering factor, is used to describe the “efficiency” of scattering of a given
atom in a given direction. It is defined as a ratio of amplitudes:
amplitude of the wave scattered by an atom
f= amplitude of the wave scattered by one electron

From what has been said already, it is clear that f = z for any atom scattering is the forward direction.
As Ө increases, however the waves scattered by individual electrons become more and more out of
phase and f decreases. The atomic scattering factor depends also on the wavelength of the incident
beam beam : at a fixed value Ө, f will be smaller the shorter the wavelength , since the path
differences will be larger relative to the wavelength, leading to greater interference between the
scattered beams. The actual calculation of f involves sin Ө rather than Ө, so that the net effect is that
f decreases as the quantity (sin Ө)/λ increases. The scattering factor f is sometimes called the form
factor, because it depends on the way in which the electrons are distributed around the nucleus.

Calculated values of f for various values of (sin Ө)/λ are tabulated in appendix 12, and a curve
showing the typical variation of f, in this case for copper, is given in fig. 4-6. Note again that the
curves begins at the atomic number of copper , 29 and decreases to very low values for scattering in
the backward direction (Ө near 90​o​) or for very short wavelengths. Since the intensity of a wave is
proportional to the square of its amplitude, a curve of scattered intensity from an atom can be
obtained simply by squaring the ordinates of a curve such as fig.4-6. (the resulting curve closely
approximates the observed scattered intensity per atom of a monatomic gas, as shown in fig3-18).

Strictly, the scattering factors f tabulated in appendix 12 apply only when the scattered radiation
has a wavelength much shorter than that of an absorption edge of the scattering atom. When
these two wavelength are nearly the same, a small corection to f must be applied in precise work.
An example is given in sec. 13-4. Ordinarily we neglect this effect , called anomalous dispersion.

The scattering just discussed, whose amplitude is expressed in terms of the atomic scattering factor,
is coherent, or unmodified, scattering , which is the only kind capable of being diffracted. On the
other hand, incoherent or compton modified, scattering is occuring at the same time . since the
latter is due to colisions of quanta with loosely bound electrons, its intensity relative to that of the
unmodified radiation increases as the proportional of loosely bound electrons increases. The
intensity of compton modified radiation thus increases as the atomic number Z decreases. It is for
this reason that it is difficult to obtain good diffraction photographs of organics materials, which
contain light elements such as carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, since the strong compton modified
scattering from these substances darkness the background of the photograph and make it difficult to
see the diffraction lines formed by the unmodified radiation . it is also found that the intensity of the
modified radiation increases as the quantity (sinӨ)/λ increases. The intensities of modified
scattering and of unmodified scattering scattering therefore vary in opposite ways with Z and with
(sin Ө)/λ.

To summarize, when a monochromatic beam of x-rays strikes an atom, two scattering processes
occur. Tightly bound electrons are set into oscillation and radiate x-rays of the same wavelength as
that of the incident beam. More loosely bound electrons scatter part of the incident beam and
slightly increase its wavelength in the process, the exact amount of increase depending on the
scattering angle. The former is called coherent or unmodified scattering and the latter incoherent or
modified; both kinds occur simultaneously and in all directions. If the atom is a part of a large group
of atoms arranged in space in a regular periodic fashion as in crystal, then another phenomenon
occurs. The coherently scattered radiation from all the atoms undergoes reinforcement in certain
direction and cancellation in other direction, thus producing diffracted beams . diffraction is,
essentially, reinforced coherent scattering.

We are now in a position to summarize, from the preceding sections and from chap.1, the chief
effects associated with passage of x-rays through matter. This is done schematically in fig.4-7. The
incident x-rays are assumed to be of high enough energy, i.e., of short enough wavelength, to cause
the emission of photoelectrons and characteristic flourescent radiation. The compton recoil
electrons shown in the diagram are the loosely bound electrons knocked out of the atom by x-ray
quanta, the interaction giving rise to compton modified radiation. Auger electrons are those ejected
from an atom by characteristic x-rays produced within the atom.