Electron impact ionization cross-sections for the N 2 and O 2 molecules

Abstract

The single differential cross-sections for the production of parent ions (N 2 +, O 2 +) and fragment ions (N +, O +) resulting from the direct and dissociative ionization of N 2 and O 2 by electron impact have been evaluated by a semi-empirical formulation based on optical photo-ionization cross-sections. The electron impact cross sections are presented as a function of energy loss suffered by impinging electrons with incident electron energies ranging from 100 to 500 eV. No previous data exist with which comparison can be made for partial differential cross-sections. A critical comparison of the computed total cross sections with available experimental data revealed an agreement within the experimental error bars.