Calculation of electron impact total ionization cross sections for tungsten, uranium and their oxide radicals

Abstract

The present article reports total ionization cross section for W, WO, WO2, WO3, U, UO, UO2 and UO3 targets by electron impact. Tungsten is used as a wall coating element in fusion reactors and are found as impurities in the fusion edge plasma along with their oxides. Uranium and its oxides are found especially in nuclear reactors. In both cases, electron induced collision and ionization are the most probable reaction that can take place in such environments. Hence, the knowledge of electron impact cross section data is very important for the modelling of these reactors. The total inelastic cross sections for these targets were calculated using spherical complex optical potential (SCOP) formalism. Then by employing complex scattering potential ionization contribution (CSP-ic) method, total ionization cross sections is derived from inelastic cross section. The present results show reasonable agreement with previous theories and experiments, wherever available. A linear relation between the ionization potential and peak of ionization cross section was also obtained confirming the consistency of the data reported here. The total ionization cross sections for UO, UO2 and UO3 presented in this work is reported for the first time.