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Thomson scattering is the elastic scattering of electromagnetic radiation by a free charged particle, as described by classical electromagnetism. It is the low-energy limit of Compton scattering : the particle's kinetic energy and photon frequency do not change as a result of the scattering. [ 1 ]
In practice, the diameter of gas molecules is not well defined. In fact, the kinetic diameter of a molecule is defined in terms of the mean free path. Typically, gas molecules do not behave like hard spheres, but rather attract each other at larger distances and repel each other at shorter distances, as can be described with a Lennard-Jones ...
The formula describes both the Thomson scattering of low energy photons (e.g. visible light) and the Compton scattering of high energy photons (e.g. x-rays and gamma-rays), showing that the total cross section and expected deflection angle decrease with increasing photon energy.
The classical electron radius appears in the classical limit of modern theories as well, including non-relativistic Thomson scattering and the relativistic Klein–Nishina formula. Also, is roughly the length scale at which renormalization becomes important in quantum electrodynamics. That is, at short-enough distances, quantum fluctuations ...
Here ′ = is the wavevector inside the material, = / and the critical angle /, with the Thomson scattering length. Below the critical angle Q < Q c {\displaystyle Q<Q_{c}} (derived from Snell's law ), 100% of incident radiation is reflected through total external reflection , R = 1 {\displaystyle R=1} .
This scattering length varies by isotope (and by element as the weighted arithmetic mean over the constituent isotopes) in a way that appears random, whereas the X-ray scattering length is just the product of atomic number and Thomson scattering length, thus monotonically increasing with atomic number. [1] [2]
Scattering of laser light from the electrons in a plasma is known as Thomson scattering. The electron temperature can be determined very reliably from the Doppler broadening of the laser line. The electron density can be determined from the intensity of the scattered light, but a careful absolute calibration is required.
The units of the structure-factor amplitude depend on the incident radiation. For X-ray crystallography they are multiples of the unit of scattering by a single electron (2.82 m); for neutron scattering by atomic nuclei the unit of scattering length of m is commonly used.