COMPTON SCATTERING BY BOUND ELECTRONS

The differential cross section for the inelastic scattering of 662 keV photons by K-shell electrons in tantalum, platinum, and gold was experimentally determined. Ge(Li) detectors were used to detect scattered photons in coincidence with K x rays. The results of the experiment confirm earlier results, showing that the differential cross section approaches zero as the scattering angle decreases to zero, and becomes larger than the Klein-Nishina cross section for scattering angles greater than about 50°. In addition, the spectra of the inelastically scattered photons were found to be peaked near the Compton energy, with a high-energy tail extending to 662 keV less the binding energy of the struck electron. This result is in disagreement with a previously reported experiment. © 1969.