Diffraction of Gas Atoms

THE development of molecular ray technique makes possible investigations of the scattering of one beam of gas atoms by another. It is therefore of considerable interest to examine the conditions under which effects characteristic of the wave nature of the atoms would be observed. The angular distribution of the scattered atoms may exhibit maxima and minima, due either to the usual diffraction phenomenon or to the identity of the colliding particles if the atomic beams are composed of similar atoms.