X Rays:

When highly energetic electrons are made to strike a metal target, electromagnetic radiation comes out.
A large part of this radiation has wavelength of the order of 0.1 nm and is known as X-rays. X-ray was
discovered by German scientist Roentgen in 1895 while investigating discharge of electricity through
rarefied gases. He observed fluorescence on a screen coated with Barium cyanide due to some invisible
radiation called X-ray from discharge tube.

Nature of X-Rays:
i) X-rays are electromagnetic waves. Wavelength of X-rays lie in between the ultraviolet rays and -rays.
ii) Wavelength of X-rays is of the order of 1A o where as their wavelength range is from 0.1A to 100A.
Frequency range is to . Energy range is from 100 eV to 10,000 eV.
iii) The intensity of X-rays depend on the number of electrons striking the target or filament current. By
increasing the filament current, intensity of the X-rays can be increased.
iv) The frequency of X-rays depends on the accelerating potential or kinetic energy of electrons striking
the target.

i.e. or and or
X-rays of very low wavelength are called hard X-rays and X-rays of larger wavelength are called soft X-
rays.

X-Rays Spectrum:
Experimental studies by Bragg and Mosley, revealed that there are two types of X-rays spectra namely.
a) Continuous X-ray spectrum b) Characteristic X-ray spectrum.
a) Continuous X-ray spectrum: It is formed due to scattering of
high speed electrons that strike the target. When high energy
electrons move close to the nucleus of target atom then these get
decelerated and x-rays of continuous frequency are emitted. The
electron rarely loses whole of its energy in a single collision.
Generally it undergoes a sequence of collisions with atoms at the
target before coming to rest, thus emitting photons of smaller
frequency or longer wave length.
Continuous X-rays are due to the conversion of kinetic
energy of electrons into X-ray photon. If the applied voltage is V.
Then work done in accelerating electron is equal to its kinetic energy E.

 ………. (i)
where e, m and V stand for charge, mass and voltage of electron and V is its velocity.
If this K.E. is totally converted into photon of energy E. then

E= ………. (ii)
From equation (i) and (ii)

E= 
Therefore, continuous X-rays have a cut off wavelength (min) for a given potential applied. Thus, the
minimum wavelength of X-rays generated in cooling tube is inversely proportional to the accelerating
voltage. This is known as Duan and Haunt’s law.
In this, the wavelengths are continuous and are independent of the nature of material of target and
wavelengths are dependent only on the potential applied.
b) Characteristics of X-ray spectrum:
Characteristic X-rays are produced by the atoms of the
target element when the electrons in their innermost shell
are removed and the remaining electrons in the atoms
rearrange themselves. The wavelengths of these X-rays
depend upon the target material. The intensity wavelength
graph show sharp peaks at certain wavelengths called
characteristic wavelengths of the element superimposed
over the continuous X-ray spectrum.
Figure shows the characteristic spectrum produced when
35 KV potential is applied to Coolidge tube and the high
energetic electrons hit a Molybdenum target. We see a
broad, continuous spectrum of X-radiation on which two
peaks of sharply defined wavelengths are superimposed. The sharp peaks are labeled as K and K.
When the high energetic electrons strike a surface of the target, they penetrate into the atoms and knock
out the tightly bound electrons from the innermost shells. (K and L shells) of the atoms. If an electron
from K-shell is knocked out, then an electron in one of the shells with higher energy jumps to K-shell to fill
the vacancy. When such a transition takes place, the difference of energy E is converted into an X-ray

photon of wavelength .
As energies of the orbits are constants for a given target material, when an
electron from L shell jumps to fill the vacancy created in K-shell, the difference

of energies of the shells , the X-ray photon with characteristic

wavelength  is produced. The transitions from L shell to K shell produce K  X-
ray peaks or simply K spectral line.
Similarly transition from M shell to K shell produces K  spectral line. These are called K-series of spectral
lines.
Similarly we get L-series of spectral lines due to transition of electrons from M and N shells to L-shell. M
series of spectral lines obtained due to transition of electron from O and N shells to M-shells.
Mosley’s Law:
Mosley examined the characteristics X-ray spectra of different element in 1913. He observed that if the
square root of the frequency of the most intense spectral line (says K ) is plotted against atomic
number Z of the target, then we get a straight line graph. It is clear from the graph that

or

or
or Z
Here a is constant of proportionality and b is screening constant. The value of a
and b depending upon the spectral line. For K series, b = 1 and for L series b = 7.4
i.e.

the value of a for K line is Rc, where R is the Rydberg constant and c is the speed of radiation of light.
Equation (i) is the mathematical statement of Moseley’s law i.e. the frequency of characteristic X-ray
spectral line is directly proportional to the square of atomic number of target element.

Note:
(i) The graph between Z2 and will be as shown.
ii) Wavelength of line is given by
iii) X-rays spectra are absent in the solar spectrum.
iv) X-rays are very penetrating indeed. But as these pass through some thickness of material, their
intensity is decreased. Thus, the material has partly absorbed the X-rays. The intensity gradient of
X-rays is directly proportional to the intensity of X-rays at that point

i.e.

……….. (i)
where  is the absorption coefficient of the material

again
Integrating both sides we get

v) Absorption coefficient (): Its value depends upon the wavelength  of x-rays and atomic number Z of
the material. It is given by

where C is constant and  is the density of the absorbing material.

Compton Effect:
According to Compton, when monochromatic X-rays fall on electrons, the scattered X-rays contain two
components one having longer wavelength and the other having same wavelength as that of the incident
X-rays. The X-rays photon having longer wave length is known
as modified radiation or in coherent scattering. This
phenomenon of change in wavelength of the scattered X-rays
photon is known as Compton effect. Compton assumed that the
collision between X-rays photon and electron is perfectly elastic.
So energy and linear momentum of the system remain
conserved. The change in the wavelength of X-rays photon is
called Compton shift and is given by

Compton shift  =

=
where mo = rest mass of electron,  = angle of scattering.
 = wavelength of incident radiation
wavelength of scattering radiation

Special cases:
i) If  = 0o,  = 0  no scattering along the direction of incidence (un modified)

ii) If  = 90o or 270o,  =

iii) If  = 180o,  =

i.e. maximum Compton shift is equal to the twice of the Compton wavelength
Note:
i) In Compton scattering an electron is also ejected with an energy dependent on its direction. It is
known as Compton effect.
ii) Compton shift depends on the scattering angle and rest mass of the particle which scatters the
photon.

iii) Direction of recoil of electron is given by