Elastic scattering of 13 to 100 eV electrons from N2

Abstract

The cross section for elastic scattering of electrons from N2 has been measured between 13 and 100 eV. The relative differential cross sections for elastic scattering and for excitation of the C 3Πu v′=0 and 1 bands were measured over the angular range from 20° to 90° in the 13–35 eV region and from 5° to 90° in the 40–100 eV region. The integrated cross sections were placed on an absolute basis by normalizing the C 3Πu v′=0 excitation cross section to the known emission cross section for the Second Positive system of nitrogen (C 3Πu→B 3Πg) and by calibrating the electron spectrometer with respect to other electron scattering results. The total elastic scattering cross section varies from 12.3×10−16 cm2 (±50%) at 13 eV to 3.9×10−16 cm2 (±50%) at 100 eV.