Polarisation of scattered light-quanta

Abstract

It is well known from the work of Barkla, Compton, and others that X-rays scattered through 90° by matter are completely polarised, irrespective of whether the electron remains bound or suffers ejection from the atom as the result of the impact of the quantum upon it. The recent discovery of a new type of light scattering with altered frequency (Nature, May 5, p. 711) makes it of importance to ascertain whether a light-quantum which is scattered with diminished energy is less perfectly polarised than in the ordinary case.