Polarization in mott scattering of multi-MeV electrons from heavy nuclei

To aid fundamental studies on the polarization of electrons in beta decay, measurements were made of the spin dependence in the scattering of 14 MeV electrons from Pb as a function of scattering angle and foil thickness. The experiment made use of a beam of polarized electrons from a strained GaAsP cathode. A simple theoretical model based on plural scattering explains the observed dependence of the analyzing power on foil thickness. The results extrapolated to infinitely thin targets are in excellent agreement with theory if the finite nuclear size is taken into account.