 X-rays were discovered in 1895 by the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and

were so named because their nature was unknown at the time.

 He was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1901.
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CONTINUOUS RAY SPECTRUM

Continuous spectrum arises due to the the deceleration of the electrons hitting the target.

This type of radiation is know as bremsstrahlung, German for “braking radiation”.

It is also called polychromatic, continuous or white radiation.

Some electrons lose all the energy in a single collision with a target atoms.

Properties of the Continuous Spectrum

Smooth, monotonic function of intensity vs wavelength.

The intensity is zero up to a certain wavelength – short wavelength limit

(lSWL). The electrons transfer all their energy into photon energy:

WRITE FROM PPT

The Characteristic Spectrum

Discovered by W.H. Bragg and

systematized by H.G. Moseley

The Characteristic Spectrum

The characteristic peak is created in when a hole in the inner shell, created by a collision event, is
filled by an electron from higher energy shell.
Let a K-shell electron be knocked out -- the vacancy can be filled by an electron from the L-shell

(Ka rad

iation) or the M-shell (K b radiation).

Properties of the Characteristic Spectrum

Usually only the K-lines are useful in X-ray diffraction.

There are several lines in the K-set. The strongest are Ka1 , Ka2 , Kb1 .

a1 and a2 components are not always resolved – Ka doublet.

Ka1 is always about twice as strong as Ka2 , while ratio of Ka1 to Kb1 averages about 5/1.

Bragg’s Equation

 When the X-rays strike a layer of a crystal, some of them will be reflected.

 We are interested in X-rays that are in-phase with one another.

 X-rays that add together constructively in x-ray diffraction analysis in-phase before they are
reflected and after they reflected.

 These two x-ray beams travel slightly different distances.

 The difference in the distances traveled is related to the distance between the adjacent
layers.
  Connecting the two beams with perpendicular lines shows the difference between the top
and the bottom beams

 Constructive interference of the radiation from successive planes occurs when the path
difference is an integral number of wavelenghts. This is the Bragg Law.

Bragg Equation

2 d sin θ=nλ

where, d is the spacing of the planes and n is the order of diffraction.

 Bragg reflection can only occur for wavelength

 This is why we cannot use visible light. No diffraction occurs when the above condition is
not satisfied.

 The diffracted beams (reflections) from any set of lattice planes can only occur at
particular angles predicted by the Bragg law.