Electron Matter Interaction
The organizing committee of a congress as large as this one attempts to make available as much pertinent information as possible. To that end a variety of platforms are employed, and a wide range of topics are chosen. Our particular interdisciplinary symposium deals with radiation damage, and I am charged with talking about electronmatter interaction. The stage should be set for the speakers who follow by introducing the terminology and explaining the physics behind the events. Electron-matter interaction is a universal process, because electrons can be excited and freed from matter by relatively low energies, and then those electrons can, in turn, react with matter. In the fluorescent light, in your car battery, or in your television set at home such electron-matter interaction takes place. From these ubiquitous events we select the pertinent electron-matter interactions which are germane to our professional metier--that is, electron microscopy.