Fast-Electron Channeling Investigated by Means of Rutherford Scattering

The Rutherford-scattering and transmission yields for electrons incident on thin single crystals have been measured. For the Rutherford-scattering yield, very pronounced peaks are found whenever the incoming beam is incident on the crystal within a certain critical angle of a low-index direction. The full width at half-maximum for the peak in yield is found to be proportional to ${\Psi }_1$, the Lindhard critical angle. Also, the volume of the peak is found to be conserved for gold crystals of thicknesses up to around 5000 Å. Further, experimental investigations of the multiple scattering for single crystals and polycrystalline foils are discussed.