What Is Compton Scatter

The Compton Scatter, also known as the Compton Effect is one of the most common types of photon interaction. In material, it is the primary source of scattered radiation. It happens when a photon (x-ray or gamma) interacts with free electrons (atoms that aren't attached to them) or loosely bound valence shell (outer shell) electrons. The incident photon scatters (changes direction) and provides energy to the electromagnet. 

The scattered photon would have a different wavelength and as a result, different energy (E=hc/). This method conserves both energy and momentum. The Compton effect is a partial absorption process that results in a Compton shift (i.e. a wavelength/frequency shift) as the original photon loses energy. 0.024 (1- cosine) can be used to calculate the wavelength shift of the scattered photon. Thus, the energy of the scattered photon decreases with increasing scattered photon angle.