Extension of Glauber theory to account for intratarget diffraction in multicenter scattering

Abstract

A 1975 treatment of single‐double multiple scattering of electrons by randomly oriented vapor‐phase molecules is put on a firmer footing and extended to higher order. It is shown how to include effects of intramolecular Fresnel diffraction, as an electron scattered by one atom propagates to the next, without ever explicitly evaluating the scattered wave function in the target. Theoretically derived estimates are made of the limitations of the approach at various levels of approximation. Numerical calculations are compared as a function of energy and scattering angle with newly available high quality calculations by Kohl and Arvedson (KA). In the expected range of applicability — roughly, 10 keV and higher − the present approach yields results that are satisfactory and (unlike those of KA) inexpensive enough for use in routine electron diffraction analyses.