Bremsstrahlung linear polarization

Summary  This work presents a general quantitative description of the bremsstrahlung linear polarization on the basis of original experimental data and available theoretical calculations. The results give the dependence of the polarization ona) the initial electron kinetic energy,T 0, in a range from 10−2 to 103 MeV,b) the photon energy in a range from 0.1T 0 toT 0,c) the photon emission angle in a range from 0 to 180 degrees, andd) the atomic number of the target in a range from 4 to 79. The experimental data were obtained for a range of electron energies from 0.05 to 1.0 MeV with beryllium, aluminum, and gold targets. Theoretical estimates of the polarization were calculated from the Sommerfeld-Kirkpatrick-Wiedmann results for the non-relativistic energy region, the Olsen-Maximon results for the extreme relativistic energy region, and the Gluckstern-Hull (Born approximation) results for the intermediate energy region. Final results are expressed in terms of the peak polarization and the corresponding peak angle as a function of the electron and photon energies, and best estimates of the polarization are given on the basis of the combined experimental and theoretical data.