Electron Scattering from Silicon 30.

In 1940, the first experiments on electron excitation of nuclei to discrete levels were done by Collins and Waldman 1.1. The first theoretical discussions of this inelastic electron scattering were due to Mamasachlisor in 19431.2 and Snedden and Touschek in 19481.3. Lyman et al. in 1951, using a betatron, clearly saw effects due to deviations from point Coulomb scattering, thus allowing nuclear sizes to be measured using electron elastic scattering1.4. Since that time, linear accelerators have become the standard source of high-energy electrons for such work. However, due to the limited resolution, an experiment of the type done in this thesis was not possible before the current generation of linear accelerators and spectrometers. The machine used in the 1950s allowed electron scattering with a resolution of delta pp 35x10 and with currents of a few tenths of a microampre. Work done using these machines, although including some excellent work such as that done by Hofstadter1.5 was limited to a few nuclei with well-isolated levels due to inability to resolve closely spaced levels.