bremsstrahlung

/-lʌŋ/

bremsstrahlung

English Noun

Definition

The electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle, such as an electron, when it is deflected by another charged particle, such as an atomic nucleus.

Etymology

Borrowed from German Bremsstrahlung (“braking or deceleration radiation”), which had been coined in German by Arnold Sommerfeld from bremsen (“to brake”) + Strahlung (“radiation”) in 1909, and was first used in English by Arthur Edward Ruark and Harold Urey in 1930.