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Electron Diffraction Imaging of Carbon Monoxide via K-Shell Ionization by Compton Scattering of 20 keV Photons

D. M. Haubenreißer1, N. M. Novikovskiy1, N. Melzer2, M. Kircher2, A. Pier2, L. Kaiser2, J. Kruse2, N. Anders2, J. Stindl2 et al.

L. Sommerlad2, O. D. McGinnis2, M. Schmidt2, L. Nowak2, A. Kügler2, I. Dwojak2, J. Drnec3, F. Trinter4, M. S. Schöffler2, L. Ph. H. Schmidt2, T. Jahnke5,6, R. Dörner2,*, and Ph. V. Demekhin1,†

  • *Contact author: doerner@atom.uni-frankfurt.de
  • †Contact author: demekhin@physik.uni-kassel.de
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 033203 – Published 15 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/thh1-8twn

Abstract

We report theoretical momentum distributions of electrons ejected from the C and O K shells of fixed-in-space CO molecules by Compton scattering of 20 keV photons for different magnitudes and orientations of the photon momentum transfer with respect to the molecular axis. We observe distinct diffraction patterns in our computed momentum distributions, which are governed by the interference of the direct Compton electrons and those which are scattered on the parent and neighboring nuclei. The observed phenomenon is similar to that employed in diffraction imaging using high-energy photoelectrons. It persists after integration over different magnitudes and the orientation of the photon momentum transfer in the molecular frame of reference. A corresponding coincidence experiment confirms our theoretical predictions.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 033203– Published 15 July, 2025
  • Received 3 February 2025
  • Accepted 26 June 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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