Compton effect in a magnetic field with allowance for polarization effects

A study is made of the scattering of a plane linearly polarized electromagnetic wave by an electron in a magnetic field. The cross section of the process is obtained separately for the and components of the polarization of the incident and scattered waves. The dependence of the cross section on the spin orientation indicates the possibility of self-polarization of the electrons as a result of the scattering of linearly polarized photons.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 47–51, August, 1980.We are very grateful to Professor A. A. Sokolov for his interest in the work and to A. V. Borisov for discussing the results.