Electron Scattering by H2 with and without Vibrational Excitation. II. Experimental and Theoretical Study of Elastic Scattering

Abstract

Elastic scattering of electrons by the hydrogen molecule has been studied. The differential elastic cross sections have been determined experimentally from 10° to 80° at seven impact energies ranging from 7 to 81.6 eV. The experimental methods for measuring the relative elastic scattering intensities, the transformation of these intensities into relative cross sections, and their normalization to the absolute scale are presented. The elastic differential and integral cross sections have also been calculated in this energy range by the quantum-mechanical method described in a previous article (I). A comparison is made between the experimental and the calculated cross sections and, whenever possible, with the results of other investigators. It is found that in the energy and angular ranges investigated here our polarized Born and polarized Born–Ochkur–Rudge approximations using the theoretically most justified potential gives better agreement with experiment than any previous calculation and that the inclusion of polarization is necessary to obtain accurate cross sections at low scattering angles.