Visualization of scattering angular distributions with the SAP code

SAP (Scattering Angular distribution Plot) is a graphical tool developed at the University of Bologna to compute and plot Rayleigh and Compton differential cross-sections (atomic and electronic), form-factors (FFs) and incoherent scattering functions (SFs) for single elements, compounds and mixture of compounds, for monochromatic excitation in the range of 1–1000 keV. The computation of FFs and SFs may be performed in two ways: (a) by interpolating Hubbell's data from EPDL97 library and (b) by using semi-empirical formulas as described in the text. Two kinds of normalization permit to compare the plots of different magnitudes, by imposing a similar scale. The characteristics of the code SAP are illustrated with one example.