The effective differential cross section for elastic scattering of electrons by atoms and its use for Monte Carlo simulation of electron passage through matter

Abstract

The effective differential cross section (DCS) for elastic scattering of electrons by atoms is proposed that reproduces known energy dependences for the first and second transport cross sections but provides a total elastic cross section that is significantly small compared with the known energy dependences. The number of elastic collisions of electrons in matter when using the effective DCS in Monte Carlo simulations is significantly lower than that when using the real DCS. The results of our Monte Carlo simulation of electron propagation in aluminium using the proposed DCS are in good agreement with experimental data.

Monte Carlo simulation of electron passage through matter using the effective differential cross section for elastic scattering of electrons by atoms and the continuous slowing-down approximation

“…In this case, the radiation processes can be neglected [9]. The effective DCS developed in [7,8] is used for the description of elastic scattering of electrons:…”

“…The effective cross section of elastic scattering σ eff 0 and the parameter n of (1) are defined by the following relations [8]:…”

“…The inelastic energy loss of an electron passing through matter is frequently defined using simple approaches [11][12][13][14]. Analogously to [8], we use the approach of [11,12], where the DCS for electron energy loss in inelastic collisions dσ in /dW is given by the equation…”

“…In the case of high-energy electrons, the number of their elastic collisions in matter will be very high, and so the CSDA algorithm will be impractical despite its simplicity. The effective differential cross section (DCS) for elastic scattering of electrons by atoms, developed in [7,8], significantly decreases the computational cost in MC simulation of elastic collisions. The effective DCS reproduces exactly known energy dependences for the first and second transport cross sections, but the total elastic cross section for the effective DCS is significantly smaller than the one for the real DCS for elastic scattering of electrons.…”

“…That is why the number of elastic collisions of high-energy electrons in matter when using the effective DCS is significantly lower than that when using the real DCS. Thus, a combination of the effective DCS [8] for the simulation of elastic scattering and the CSDA for the description of inelastic energy losses may be of interest in the development of an MC algorithm for fast simulation of the passage of high-energy electrons through matter.…”