[4][5] This scattering typically happens with solids such as metals, semiconductors and insulators;[6] and is a limiting factor in integrated circuits and transistors.

[7][8] The scattering of electrons has allowed us to understand that protons and neutrons are made up of the smaller elementary subatomic particles called quarks.

[citation needed] The first electron diffraction experiment was conducted in 1927 by Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer using what would come to be a prototype for modern LEED system.

While the idea of beam-beam collisions had been around since approximately the 1920s, it was not until 1953 that a German patent for colliding beam apparatus was obtained by Rolf Widerøe.

[16] Hendrik Lorentz derived and refined the concept in 1892 and gave it his name,[17] incorporating forces due to electric fields.

[19] Coulomb's law states that: The magnitude of the electrostatic force is proportional to the scalar multiple of the charge magnitudes, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance (i.e. inverse-square law), and is given by: or in vector notation: where q1, q2 are two point charges; ^r being the unit vector direction of the distance r between charges and ε0 is the permittivity of free space, given in SI units by:[20] The directions of the forces exerted by the two charges on one another are always along the straight line joining them (the shortest distance), and are vector forces of infinite range, and obey Newton's third law, being of equal magnitude and opposite direction.

[22] Inelastic scattering is when the collisions do not conserve kinetic energy,[23][24] and as such the internal states of one or both of the particles has changed.

[26][note 7] Compton published a paper in the Physical Review explaining the phenomenon: A quantum theory of the scattering of X-rays by light elements.

[28][30] This was an important discovery during the 1920s when the particle (photon) nature of light suggested by the photoelectric effect was still being debated, the Compton experiment gave clear and independent evidence of particle-like behavior.

The classical theory of an electromagnetic wave scattered by charged particles, cannot explain low intensity shifts in wavelength.

Inverse Compton scattering takes place when the electron is moving, and has sufficient kinetic energy compared to the photon.

[citation needed] The first observation came at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, on April 24, 1947, in the synchrotron built by a team of Herb Pollack to test the idea of phase-stability principle for RF accelerators.

[note 8] When the technician was asked to look around the shielding with a large mirror to check for sparking in the tube, he saw a bright arc of light coming from the electron beam.

[35] Construction began on the 3-kilometre-long (2 mi) linear accelerator in 1962 and was completed in 1967, and in 1968 the first experimental evidence of quarks was discovered resulting in the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared by SLAC's Richard Taylor and Jerome I. Friedman and Henry Kendall of MIT.

This was followed up with Martin Perl's announcement of the discovery of the tau lepton, for which he shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics.

[36] The SLAC aims to be a premier accelerator laboratory,[37] to pursue strategic programs in particle physics, particle astrophysics and cosmology, as well as the applications in discovering new drugs for healing, new materials for electronics and new ways to produce clean energy and clean up the environment.

[43] Overseen by the Nishina Centre, the RI Beam Factory is utilized by users worldwide promoting research in nuclear, particle and hadron physics.

[44] The SCRIT (Self-Confining Radioactive isotope Ion Target) facility, is currently under construction at the RIKEN RI beam factory (RIBF) in Japan.

The results of this study were favorable with elastically scattered electrons from the trapped Cs being clearly visible.

[45] Page 574 : Il résulte donc de ces trois essais, que l'action répulsive que les deux balles électrifées de la même nature d'électricité exercent l'une sur l'autre, suit la raison inverse du carré des distances.Translation : It follows therefore from these three tests, that the repulsive force that the two balls – [that were] electrified with the same kind of electricity – exert on each other, follows the inverse proportion of the square of the distance.