Size effect on polarization bremsstrahlung induced by electrons scattered on xenon clusters

TL;DR

This study investigates how the size of xenon clusters influences the polarization bremsstrahlung produced when electrons scatter off them, revealing a dominant polarization component and a novel size effect.

Contribution

It introduces an original measurement method for absolute spectral intensity and demonstrates the first observed size effect on polarization bremsstrahlung in xenon clusters.

Findings

Polarization bremsstrahlung dominates the differential cross section.

A new method for absolute intensity measurement was developed.

First observation of size effect on polarization bremsstrahlung in xenon clusters.

Abstract

We measured spectral distribution of absolute differential cross section of both ordinary and polarization bremsstrahlung for 0.3-1.0 keV electrons scattered on atoms and substrate-free nanoclusters of xenon. Clusters were produced in a supersonic gas jet expanding adiabatically into a vacuum. An original method based on absolute measurements of intensity of the atom and cluster emission in the VUV and USX spectral regions was used to determine the cluster density in the scattering area. The bremsstrahlung arising from scattering on clusters had a polarization component which dominated the differential cross section. For the first time cluster size effect on the formation of the polarization bremsstrahlung was found for xenon.