Angular Distribution of Bremsstrahlung from Mirror-Confined Electrons

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Abstract
The bremsstrahlung radiation from electron-ion collisions is emitted anisotropically in directions dependent on the electron kinetic energy and the photon energy. We consider here the radiation from electrons confined in magnetic mirrors. In particular, the magnitude of this anisotropy is examined as a function of the electron energy, the photon energy, the electron pitch angle, and the angle of a detector with respect to the magnetic-mirror midplane. The calculations are performed in the Born approximation with the cross sections developed by Gluckstern and Hull. We also compute the temperature of a bi-Maxwellian distribution from the slope of the log of the intensity vs photon-energy curve and consider the effects of pitch-angle distribution and detector angle on the anisotropy of the radiation.