= Particle beam
{wiki}
A <particle beam> is a directed stream of <particles> prepared for transport, interaction or detection. A <molecular beam> can contain neutral <chemical atoms> or <molecules>; an accelerator beam can contain charged <electrons>, <protons> or <ions>. Its direction, <energy> spread, spatial distribution and <particle flux> describe different aspects of the preparation.
A source, direction-selecting apertures or focusing elements, a transport region and a detector perform separate tasks. For a charged beam, <electric fields> can change its <energy> and <magnetic fields> can bend its trajectory through the <Lorentz force>. A neutral <atomic beam> requires interactions appropriate to its neutral constituents. A <vacuum> reduces unwanted collisions along either transport path, but it does not itself make every particle's <speed> equal.
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