characteristic x-ray are introduced in chapter 2 when discussing monochromatic x-ray radiation for the x-ray diffractometer. it is necessary, however, to further discuss the features of characteristic x-rays in this chapter because they are the essential signals used in x-ray spectroscopy for identifying chemical element.
figure 6.1 schematically illustrates the generation of characteristic x-rays when an atom is irradiated by high energy particles. when a high energy particle, such as an x-ray photon, an electron or a neutron,strikes an electron in the inner shell of an atom, the energy of the particle can be high enough to knock an electron out of its original position in an atom.