https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-026-01124-z
Research - Atoms, Molecules, Ions, and Clusters
The impact of ionising collisions on channelling and radiation emission for high-energy electrons and positrons
MBN Research Center, Altenhöferallee 3, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
a
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Received:
22
November
2025
Accepted:
27
January
2026
Published online:
23
March
2026
Abstract
This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the impact of inelastic collisions with atoms in a crystalline environment on the channelling efficiency and intensity of the channelling radiation for high-energy electrons and positrons passing through oriented crystalline targets. This analysis is based on numerical simulations of the channelling process, which were performed using the MBN Explorer software package. Ionising collisions are considered random, fast and local events and are incorporated into the classical relativistic molecular dynamics framework according to the previously described algorithm. The case studies presented refer to 10 GeV electrons and positrons incident on single crystals of diamond and silicon, oriented along the (110) and (111) planes, with thicknesses of up to 1 mm for electrons and 6 mm for positrons. To elucidate the role of ionising collisions, simulations were performed with and without accounting for them. It is shown that, for electrons, both approaches lead to similar results with regard to both the channelling efficiency and the radiation intensity. In practical terms, this means that numerical simulations can be carried out without accounting for ionising collisions, which are much faster yet produce similar results. For positrons, the ionising collisions reduce significantly the channelling efficiency. However, their impact on the radiation intensity strongly depends on the opening angle of the cone within which the radiation emission is collected. A quantitative analysis of this feature is presented in the paper.
Graphical abstract: Impact of inelastic collisions on channeling efficiency and radiation intensity
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
