According to the quantum theory of light, photons behave like

particles except for their lack of rest mass.

Can we consider a collision between a photon and an

electron as if both were billiard balls?
Compton effect
An X-ray photon strikes an electron (assumed to be
initially at rest in the laboratory coordinate system)
and is scattered away from its original direction of
motion while the electron receives an impulse and 1927 Nobel

begins to move.
We can think of the photon as losing an amount of energy in the collision
that is the same as the kinetic energy KE gained by the electron, although
actually separate photons are involved

Further confirmation of photon model

PH1001/96
 E  h  h 
E  mc 2
p  h  / c h 
c sin 
Incident photon h 
p0
-   c
cos  c

E  h p sin 
Target  
p  h / c electron p p cos 
- E m c p c
2
0
4 2 2

p p
Scattered
electron

Scattering of X-rays from electrons in a carbon target and found scattered X-rays
with a longer wavelength than those incident upon the target.
• Compton’s experiments showed that, at any given angle, only one frequency of
radiation is observed
Initial momentum = final momentum
In the original photon direction:
h h 
0  cos   p cos 
c c
h 
in the perpendicular direction: 0 sin   p sin 
c

PH1001/97
 pc cos   h  h  cos 
pc sin   h  sin 

 p 2c 2  (h ) 2  2(h )(h ) cos   (h ) 2

Form the total energy expression we have:

E  KE  mc2
E p 2 c 2  mc4

Equating the two expressions for the total energy of a particle

KE  mc  2 2
 p 2c 2  mc4
p 2c 2  KE 2  2KEmc 2

KE  h  h /
PH1001/98
 Substituting the value of KE

p 2c 2  (h ) 2  2(h )(h )  (h ) 2  2mc2 (h  h )

Substituting the value of p2c2

 2mc2 (h  h )  2(h )(h )(1  cos  )

Dividing by 2h2c2

mc   /   /
(  ) (1  cos  )
h c c c c
Since
 1 / 1
 and 
c  c /

mc 1 1 (1  cos  )
(  /)
h    /
PH1001/99
 Compton effect or shift: (   )  c (1  cos  )
/

Compton wavelength (λC): gives the scale of the wave length

change of the incident photon
h
C   0.00243nm
mc

PH1001/100
Why X-ray ?
h
(/   )  c (1  cos  ) C   0.00243nm
mc

The Compton wavelength gives the scale of the wavelength change of the incident
photon.

The greatest wavelength change possible corresponds to ϕ =180°, when the

wavelength change will be twice the Compton wavelength λc.

Because λc = 2.426 pm for an electron, and even less for other particles owing to
their larger rest masses, the maximum wavelength change in the Compton
effect is 4.852 pm.

Changes of this magnitude or less are readily observable only in x-rays.

The shift in wavelength for visible light is less than 0.01 percent of the initial
wavelength, whereas for X-rays of λ = 0.1 nm it is several percent.

Thus, X-rays lose energy when they pass through matter.

PH1001/101
Experimental Demonstration

A.H. Compton, Phys. Rev. 22

409 (1923)

PH1001/102
Ex-1
High energy photos (-rays) are scattered from electrons initially at rest. Assume
the photons are backscattered and their energies are much larger than the
electron’s rest mass energy, E >> mec2.
(a) calculate the wavelength shift,
(b) show that the energy of the scattered photons is half the rest mass energy of the
electron, regardless of the energy of the incident photons,
(c) calculate the electrons recoil kinetic energy if the energy of the incident photons
is 150 MeV.
ANS:
(a) Here  = , wave length shift or Compton shift:
h 2h 4c
       (1  cos  )    4.8  10 12
m
m0 c me c me c 2
(b) Energy of scattered photon E:
hc hc me c 2 me c 2
E    
    2h /( me c) me c  /( hc)  2 me c 2 / E  2
2

If E >> mec2 we can approximate by

1
me c 2 2me c 2  me c 2 (me c 2 ) 2 me c 2
E  1       0.25MeV
2  E  2 E 2
(c) Kinetic energy of recoil electron: Ke = E - E  150 MeV-0.25 MeV = 149.75 MeV

PH1001/103