Finding photon scatter angle using Compton effect equation

Diagram of Compton effect, credit: Frank Gaillard

Given the change in wavelength from an incident photon colliding with an electron, find the scatter angle of the photon.

Compton effect:

Formula for Compton effect

Where: h is plank constant, Delta lambda is change in wavelength, m_e is electron mass, and c is speed of light.

This can be simplified using the Compton wavelength (for a photon-electron collision):

Compton wavelength for photon-electron collision

So the formula for Compton effect now looks like:

Simplified formula for Compton effect

Rearranged for theta:

Formula for Compton effect rearranged for scatter angle theta

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