bremsstrahlung
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thumb|upright|Bremsstrahlung produced by a high-energy electron deflected in the electric field of an atomic nucleus
~34 min read
Encyclopedic overview
22 sectionsContents
- Classical description
- Total radiated power
- Angular distribution
- Simplified quantum-mechanical description
- Thermal bremsstrahlung in a medium: emission and absorption
- In plasma: approximate classical results
- Relativistic corrections
- Bremsstrahlung cooling
- Polarizational bremsstrahlung
- Sources
- X-ray tube
- Beta decay
- Inner and outer bremsstrahlung
- Radiation safety
- In astrophysics
- In electric discharges
- Quantum mechanical description
- Electron–electron bremsstrahlung
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|upright|Bremsstrahlung produced by a high-energy electron deflected in the electric field of an atomic nucleus
In particle physics, bremsstrahlung (; ; ) is electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle when deflected by another charged particle, typically an electron by an atomic nucleus. The moving particle loses kinetic energy, which is converted into radiation (i.e., photons), thus satisfying the law of conservation of energy. The term is also used to refer to the process of producing the radiation. Bremsstrahlung has a continuous spectrum, which becomes more intense and whose peak intensity shifts toward higher frequencies as the change of the energy of the decelerated particles increases.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “bremsstrahlung” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.