A measurement of the electron impact ionization cross section of atomic hydrogen in the metastable 2S state

Abstract

The total ionization cross section for electrons colliding with metastable 2S atoms has been measured up to 500 eV electron energy by a crossed beam technique. A beam of fast hydrogen atoms, containing about 25% in the 2S state and the rest in the IS ground state, is formed by charge capture onto protons that are passed through a caesium vapour target. Protons emerging from the target are removed from the beam by deflexion in a weak electric field. Atoms formed by capture into long-lived, high quantum states are first ionized in a topographically suitable field and then removed by deflexion in the weak field. The signal arising from electron ionization of the 2S atoms is identified by quenching them in a pulsed electric field. Contributions from other sources of extraneous ionization are eliminated by modulated beam techniques. The cross sections are determined from absolute measurements of the beam fluxes, the geometry of the interaction region and the rate at which 2S atoms are ionized. The results show that as the electron energy is raised, the ionization cross section for 2S atoms rises to a maximum at about 4 times the ionization energy of the 2S state. This maximum, about 10 -15 cm 2 , is 13 times larger than th at of the IS atoms. Comparison with various theoretical determinations indicates th at best agreement is obtained with the Born approximation which includes exchange, but below 100eV the classical Monte Carlo approximation agrees equally well with observations.