Electron Spectroscopy and the Fine Structure Constant

Abstract

In the absence of ferromagnetic materials and of stray magnetic fields, the magnetic induction. in a system of coils carrying a current I is B = I F (x,y,z). An electron moves through a magnetostatic field with a constant scalar momentum p, and its trajectory in the field of a coil depends only on the initial conditions and on. I/P, where P = (Bρ) = p/e and e is the charge. In the absence of stray fields, therefore, any kind of iron-free spectrometer serves as a relative spectrometer, i.e. it enables P to be determined in terms of I, the required focusing current, and of an instrumental constant.