INELASTIC SCATTERING OF ELECTRONS BY CRYSTALS. I. THE THEORY OF SMALL- ANGLE INELASTIC SCATTERING

Journal Article · Tue Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 1963 · Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), Ser. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1963.0017· OSTI ID:4762699

Howie, A

The theory of inelastic scattering is studied for the transmission of fast electrons through crystals when the fast electrons are described by Bloch waves so that Bragg reflection is also considered. Solutions for the wave amplitudes are obtained for the case of small-angle inelastic scattering and it is shown that interband inelastic scattering transitions of the fast electron are forbidden when the interaction potential is of the long range type which might arise in the excttation of plasmons. This result would explain recent electron microscope observations of similar diffraction contrast effects obtained using elastically scattered or inelastically scattered electrons, and also shows that such inelastic scattering need not be considered in theories of diffraction contrast. The theory also predicts a Poisson distribution for the intensities of the various peaks observed in the energy spectrum of the transmitted electrons. In thick crystals, where anomalous absorption effects are importart, the angular distribution of the scattered intensity round the Bragg diffraction spots is found to cortaln an asymmetry in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations. (auth)

• Research Organization: Cambridge Univ., Eng.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-17-013169
• OSTI ID: 4762699
• Journal Information: Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), Ser. A, Journal Name: Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), Ser. A Vol. Vol: 271
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ABSORPTION
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
BRAGG REFLECTION
CRYSTALS
DIFFRACTION
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
EXCITATION
INELASTIC SCATTERING
INTERACTIONS
LATTICES
PHYSICS
REFLECTION
SCATTERING
SPECTRA
WAVE MECHANICS