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Optical model for the energy distribution of secondary electrons

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4354753
BS>In Radiological and Environmental Research Division annual report: radiation physics, July 1972--June 1973. A striking similarity between the experimental data on the production of secondary electrons by electron impact and the photoionization cross section is demonstrated for the rare gases and some molecules. Present study shows that the Mott cross section could serve as an approximate base cross section to which scaled optical data and the Auger electron spectrum are added to reproduce all qualitative features observed in the electron-impact data. An empirical criterion is proposed to normalize the secondaryelectron data to the Mott cross section in the region of the secondary- electron energies where the shape of the measured cross sections resembles the theoretical one very closely. For incident electrons of 500 eV kinetic energy, secondary-electron energies of 150 to 200 eV appear to be the appropriate region for such a normaliztion procedure. According to the proposed scheme, for instance, the data on He by Peterson, Beaty, and Opal (at 500 eV incident energy) should be reduced by approximates 20%. The binaryencounter theory, which includes the momentum distribution in the initial state of the target, tends to overestimate the cross section, particularly for heavy atoms. (16 figures, 3 tables) (auth)
Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab., Ill. (USA)
NSA Number:
NSA-29-025164
OSTI ID:
4354753
Report Number(s):
ANL--8060(Pt.1)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English