Comparison of experiment and theory for superelastic electron-collision studies from laser-aligned magnesium

Abstract

A combined experimental and theoretical study of superelastic electron collisions from laser-aligned magnesium atoms for a range of collision energies from 35 to 55 eV is presented. $^{24}\mathrm{Mg}$ atoms were excited from the $3\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{1}S_{0}$ ground state to the $3\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{1}P_{1}$ excited state using continuous-wave linearly polarized laser radiation at \ensuremath{\sim}285 nm. Electrons of well-defined energy ${E}_{\mathrm{inc}}$ then deexcited the targets, and the superelastically scattered electrons emerging from the collision were detected as a function of scattering angle and laser polarization. Results for alignment of the target by the electron beam are presented for a range of scattering angles, for outgoing energies from ${E}_{\mathrm{out}}=35$ to $55\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$. The agreement between the measurements and the results of the convergent close-coupling theory are encouraging, but some discrepancies remain.