Role of the Coulomb Potential in Compton Scattering

Phys Rev Lett. 2024 Nov 1;133(18):183002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.183002.

Abstract

We report a fully differential study of ionization of the Ne L shell by Compton scattering of 20 keV photons. We find two physical mechanisms that modify the Compton-electron emission. Firstly, we observe scattering of the Compton electrons at their parent nucleus. Secondly, we find a distinct maximum in the electron momentum distribution close-to-zero momentum that we attribute to a focusing of the electrons by the Coulomb potential.