Question
Try the K shell excitation several times and then make sure that you understand the subsequent X-ray and Auger electron emission processes which are shown on the next page.
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There are four main processes by which a high energy electron (red here) can lose energy to an atom. These are:
- the excitation of a plasmon
- the excitation of a single electron from the valence band (pale green)
- the excitation of an inner shell electron (from the K or L shell)
- the excitation of a phonon.
Three of these inelastic scattering processes are shown in the simulation on the right.