POLARIZATION OF NONRESONANT INELASTIC X-RAY-SCATTERING

The general cross section is expressed in terms of Stokes parameters o f incoming and detected radiation. The dependence on the experimental arrangement is made explicit. Circular dichroism is considered for bot h randomly oriented and polarized target systems. A simple example ill ustrates how incident left- and right-handed circularly polarized x-ra ys can be used to obtain orientational information. We also examine th e validity of the impulse (Compton) and optical (Raman) approximation for scattering by 1s electrons of hydrogen and hydrogen-like ions usin g an exact scaling law.