Rutherford scattering

One of the first possible outcomes of the collision of a charged particle with a nucleus is Rutherford or Coulomb scattering. The incident charged particle feels the long-range Coulomb force of the positively charged nucleus and is deflected from its path (Fig. 10.12). 

The Coulomb force acting between a projectile of mass m, charge Z e, and a target nucleus with charge Z2e is given as  

Consider a target nucleus that is much heavier than the projectile nucleus so that we can neglect the recoil of the target nucleus in the interaction. The projectile will 

We can make these observations more quantitative by considering the situation where a flux of /0 particles/unit area is incident on a plane normal to the beam 

If we want to calculate the number of projectile nuclei that undergo Rutherford scattering into a solid angle dfl at a plane angle 0, we can write 

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This is the Rutherford scattering cross section. It is interesting to note that Bom and classical theory also reproduce this cross section. Moreover,... 

In the analogous RBS analysis, da/dil is given precisely and analytically by the Rutherford scattering formula. Unfortunately, the case of ( He, H) scattering is not quite so simple. While the processes are indeed elastic, their cross sections are dominated by nuclear interaction components except at very low energies. (The H(%e, iH)%e cross section approaches the Rutherford value for energies below 0.8 MeV.)... 

Rutherford scattered electrons (Figure 9.12). The intensity of these electrons is proportional to Z2 (where Z is the atomic number of scattering atom) so that the experimental method is most suitable for high-Z materials distributed over low-Z supports. 

Typical examples of Rutherford-scattered imaging of nanoparticles of a commercially important Pd/C catalyst recorded with (a) a BSE detector in a field emission scanning electron microscope as well as (b) a STEM HAADF image of the same 5% Pd/C sample, recorded in the same instrument, are shown... 

The examples shown in the preceding paragraphs illustrate that combined use of HAADF imaging and BSE imaging, both using Rutherford-scattered electrons,... 

For further details an animated description of electron tomographic work on three-dimensional nanostructure analysis based on Rutherford scattering (/17-119) see http // www.hrem.msm.cam.uk/ mw259/Work/Tomo.html. 

Rutherford scattering behavior. The Mo intensity corresponds to a loading of 1,2 0. MO15 atoms/cm2. It would be difficult to obtain such an accurate number from any other technique in this concentration range. 

Scattering from Thin Amorphous Specimens. The Z contrast technique exploits tRe strong Z dependence of Rutherford scattering into the annular detector. Rutherford scattering is... 

Figure 10.12 Schematic diagram of Rutherford scattering. [From Satchler (1990).]...

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