Investigation of the production mechanism of parametric X-ray radiation

Parametric x-ray Radiation (PXR) in the energy range from 5 to 20 keV produced by 855 MeV electrons using a single Si crystal was studied at the Mainz Microtron MAMI. The production mechanism was investigated by measuring the angular distributions for several orders of PXR and its dependence from the crystal thickness. A silicon crystal shaped in steps with thicknesses ranging from 100 μm to 600 μm was used. The experiments were carried out using LN₂-cooled PIN photodiodes with an energy resolution of 950 eV. The absolute photon flux was measured for the (111)-, (220)- and (224)-reflection planes and are in very good agreement with a kinematical model. The angular distributions are well reproduced by an ansatz, which incoherently adds to the PXR a portion of diffracted bremsstrahlung and diffracted transition radiation.