Compton Scattering is an inelastic scattering of a photon by a free charged particle, usually electron. It results in a decrease in energy (increase in wavelength) of the photon (which may be an X-ray or gamma ray photon), called the Compton effect. Part of the energy of the photon is transferred to the scattering electron. Inverse Compton scattering also exists, in which a charged particle transfers part of its energy to a photon.
Read more about Compton Scattering: Introduction, Description of The Phenomenon
Famous quotes containing the word scattering:
“Or of the garden where we first mislaid
Simplicity of wish and will, forgetting
Out of what cognate splendor all things came
To take their scattering names;”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)