Elastic and absorption cross sections for electron scattering by ethylene in the intermediateenergy range

Abstract

In this work, we present a joint theoretical and experimental study on electron scattering byC2H4 in theintermediate energy range. Calculated elastic differential, integral, and momentum-transfer as well as total(elastic + inelastic) and absorption cross sections are reported at impact energies ranging from 10 to500 eV. Also, experimental absolute elastic cross sections are reported in the 100–500 eVrange. The measurements were performed using a crossed electron beam–molecular beamgeometry. The angular distributions of the scattered electrons were converted to absolutecross sections using the relative flow technique. Theoretically, a complex optical potentialwas used to represent the electron–molecule interaction dynamics. The Schwingervariational iterative method combined with the distorted-wave approximation was used tosolve the scattering equations. The comparison between our calculated and measuredresults, as well as with other experimental and theoretical data available in the literature, isencouraging.