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X-Ray Form Factor, Attenuation, and Scattering Tables

NIST Standard Reference Database 66

Last Update to Data Content: January 2005 | Version History & Reference Example |  Disclaimer | DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18434/T4HS32

Detailed Tabulation of Atomic Form Factors, Photoelectric Absorption and Scattering Cross Section, and Mass Attenuation Coefficients for Z = 1-92 from E = 1-10 eV to E = 0.4-1.0 MeV
C.T. Chantler,1 K. Olsen, R.A. Dragoset, J. Chang, A.R. Kishore, S.A. Kotochigova, and D.S. Zucker
NIST, Physical Measurement Laboratory
1Present address: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010 Australia
© 1995, 1996, 2001 copyright by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on behalf of the United States of America. All rights reserved. NIST reserves the right to charge for these data in the future.


Tables for form factors and anomalous dispersion are of wide general use in the UV, x-ray and γ-ray communities, and have existed for a considerable period of time. Much of the recent theoretical basis for these was contributed by Cromer, Mann and Liberman while much of the experimental data was synthesised by Henke et al. More recent developments in both areas have led to new and revised tables. The generality of these works has entailed numerous simplifications compared to detailed relativistic S-matrix calculations; however, the latter do not appear to give convenient tabular application for the range of Z and energy of general interest. Conversely, the former tables appear to have large regions of limited validity throughout the range of Z and energies, and in particular have limitations with regard to extrapolation to energies outside tabulated ranges.

Herein, the primary interactions of x-rays with isolated atoms from Z = 1 (hydrogen) to Z = 92 (uranium) are described and computed within a self-consistent Dirac-Hartree-Fock framework. This has general application across the range of energy from 1-10 eV to 400-1000 keV, with limitations (described below) as the low- and high-energy extremes are approached. Tabulations are provided for the f1 and f2 components of the form factors, together with the photoelectric attenuation coefficient for the atom, µ, and the value for the K-shell, µK, as functions of energy and wavelength. Also provided are estimated correction factors as described in the text, conversion factors, and a simple estimate for the sum of the scattering contributions (from an isolated atom).

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NIST Standard Reference Database 66
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Online: April 1997  -  Last Update: August 2005

This work was supported in part by the NIST Standard Reference Data Program and by NIST's Systems Integration for Manufacturing Applications (SIMA) Program.

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Radiation Physics Division

Created September 21, 2009, Updated February 24, 2022