1.

4 The Compton Effect

The Nobel Prize in Physics, 1927: jointly-awarded to Arthur Holly Compton (figure 9),

for his discovery of the effect named after him.

Compton = Scary² (1.1)

Figure 9: Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962): joint-winner of Nobel Prize for Physics in
1927.

Pre-1923 :x-rays scattered by electrons in matter were all though to have the same wave-
length as that of the incident x-rays.

• Scattering of x-rays by matter was considered to be an elastic process – no energy is

• Such elastic scattering is known as Thomson scattering, after J J Thomson.

1923 :A H Compton carried out a careful study of the x-rays scattered by a thin layer of car-
bon (in the form of graphite) using the then recently developed Bragg x-ray diffractometer.
He employed a beam of (essentially) monochromatic x-rays (figure 10).

• Compton found that the scattered x-rays had two components in the scattering di-
rection (figure 11):

– One component had a wavelength λ0 equal to that of the incident radiation.

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 Figure 10: Basic schematic of Compton’s experiment.

– Second component had a wavelength λ = λ0 + ∆λ.

• The apparent shift in wavelength, ∆λ, is called the Compton shift.

• Compton found that

– ∆λ varies with the scattering angle φ (see figure 11).

– ∆λ increases rapidly at large scattering angles.

– ∆λ is independent of the incident wavelength λ 0 .

– ∆λ is independent of the scattering material.

Classically: the carbon atoms in the graphite should oscillate at the frequency ν 0 of the
incident radiation, and be re-radiated at the same frequency/wavelength.

Thus, the observed experimental results cannot be explained using classical

Upon realising that classical physics cannot explain this effect, Compton embarked upon a
more radical explanation based upon the (at the time) new quantum theory.

• Since the energy of an x-ray photon is very much larger than the binding energy of an
atomic electron, the electron can be thought of as being ”free”.

• Compton assumed that x-rays could be treated as a stream of photons.

• The above experiment can thus be modeled as the scattering of photons by free elec-
trons in the target material.

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Figure 11: Compton’s 1923 x-ray scattering results (from Phys. Rev. volume 21, page 483
(1923).

Comsider the pre- and post-collisional configuration of the scattering event (figure 12). Since
the electrons have extremely small mass, and the energy associated with x-ray photons is
very large, we need to employ a relativistic description of the scattering process.

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 Figure 12: Basic dynamics of the Compton Effect.

Electron:

• Using the principle of equivalence of mass and energy (Einstein, 1911), the energy of
an electron is given by

E = mc2 = K + m0 c2 . (1.40)

Here,

– m is the relativistic mass of the electron.

– m0 is the rest-mass of the electron.

– K is the kinetic energy associated with the translational motion of the electron.

• According to special relativity, m and m0 are related to each other by

m0
m= p = γm0 , (1.41)
1 − v 2 /c2
where γ is the Lorentz factor and v = |v | is the speed of the electron.

• The linear momentum p of a moving electron is given by

p = mv = γm0 v , (1.42)

and its magnitude can be related to its total (relativistic) energy, E, by

mc2 v Ev
p = mv = 2
= 2 . (1.43)
c c

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Photon:

• Equation (1.43) is the relation for a particle, such as an electron, which has a finite
rest-mass. However, the final version of (1.43) does not explicitly contain the rest-mass
of the electron.

• We can therefore obtain the relationship between the linear momentum of a photon
(or any other particle with a zero rest-mass) simply by taking the limit that m 0 → 0,
or equivalently, v → c; this gives

E hν h
p= = = . (1.44)
c c λ

Consider the pre- and post-collisional configurations outlined in figure 12: we note that pho-
tons carry both energy and linear momentum, so that we must consider both conservation
laws simultaneously.

• Conservation of energy: equating total pre- and post-collisional energies, we have

hν0 + m0 c2 = hν + mc2 . (1.45)

Using the expression c = νλ, (1.45) can be rewritten as

hc hc
+ m 0 c2 = + mc2 , (1.46)
λ0 λ
or

h h
− + m0 c = mc . (1.47)
λ0 λ

• Conservation of Momentum: equating the x- and y-components,

hν0 hν
x − component : = cos φ + γm0 v cos θ (1.48)
c c

hν
y − component : 0= sin φ − γm0 v sin θ . (1.49)
c
In terms of λ, (1.47) and (1.48) can be written as

h h
− cos φ = γm0 v cos θ , (1.50)
λ0 λ
and

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 h
sin φ = γm0 v sin θ , (1.51)
λ
respectively.

Squaring and adding (1.50) and (1.51) yields the result

h2 h2 2h2 cos φ
2 + 2− = γ 2 m20 v 2 = γ 2 m20 c2 − m20 c2 . (1.52)
λ0 λ λ0 λ
Squaring (1.47) gives

h2 h2 2h2
 
1 1
2 + 2− + 2m0 hc − + m20 c2 = γm20 c2 . (1.53)
λ0 λ λ0 λ λ0 λ
Subtracting (1.52) from (1.53) gives the result

2h2
 
1 1
(cos φ − 1) + 2m0 hc − =0, (1.54)
λ0 λ λ0 λ
or equivalently,

h
∆λ = λ − λ0 = (1 − cos φ) . (1.55)
m0 c

Using the trigonometric identity cos 2A = 1−2 sin2 A with 2A = φ, this result can be written
in the alternative form

h φ
∆λ = 2 sin2 . (1.56)
m0 c 2

• So (1.55) or (1.56) provides an expression for the Compton Shift ∆λ.

• The expression h/m0 c is called the Compton wavelength.

• Employing the modern values of the physical constants:

Planck constant: h = 6.626075 × 10−34 J s

Electron rest-mass: m0 = 0.9109390 × 10−30 kg

Speed of light: c = 2.997925 × 108 m s−1

we find that the Compton Shift may be expressed by

∆λ = 0.024263 (1 − cos φ) , (1.57)

where we have expressed the Compton wavelength in units of Angstroms (1 Å = 10−10

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This calculation accounts for the shifted line. To explain the unshifted line, we need to
understand that not all the scattering of x-rays is done by the free electrons.

• The free electrons recoil in the way we have explained above, and provide the shifted
wavelength.

• The valence/core electrons do not recoil as above.

– The electron mass in the above calculation would effectively be replaced by the
mass of the atom in which the electron is located.

– For such a large mass, the Compton Shift ∆λ for the scattered photon would be
undetectable, i.e. ∆λ ≈ 0.

– Therefore, it is the scattering of photons by the valence/core electron which leads

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