The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of making experimental measurements of proton-induced K-shell x-ray production cross sections and to study the dependence of these cross sections upon the energy of the incident proton. The measurements were made by detection of the characteristic x-rays emitted as a consequence of the ionization of the K-shell of the atom. The method for relating this characteristic x-ray emission to the x-ray production cross section is discussed in this work.

This thesis represents one phase of a joint effort of research on the properties of liquids and solids. This work is concerned primarily with the microwave properties of solids. In this investigation the properties exhibited by conductor and semiconductor materials when they are subjected to electromagnetic radiation of microwave frequency are studied. The method utilized in this experiment is the perturbation of a resonant cavity produced by introduction of a cylindrically shaped sample into it.

A source-modulation microwave spectrograph was utilized to measure line width parameters for several spectral lines in the pure rotational spectrum of formaldehyde (H₂CO). The spectrograph featured high-gain ac amplification and phase-sensitive detection, and was capable of measuring microwave lines having absorption coefficients as small as 10⁻⁷ cm⁻¹ with a frequency resolution on the order of 30 kHz. Center frequencies of the measured lines varied from 4,830 MHz to 72,838 MHz; hence, most of the observations were made on transitions between K-doublets in the rotational spectrum. Corrections were applied to the measured line width parameters to account for Doppler broadening and, where possible, for deviations due to magnetic hyperfine structure in some of the K-doubled lines. Low modulation voltages and low microwave power levels were used to minimize modulation and saturation broadenings; other extraneous broadenings were found to be insignificant. The primary broadening mechanism at low gas pressure is pressure broadening, and a review of this topic is included. Line width parameters for the several observed transitions were determined by graphing half-widths versus pressure for each spectral line, and performing a linear least-squares fit to the data points. Repeatability measurements indicated the accuracy of the line width parameters to be better …