Electron scattering on hydrogen and deuterium molecules at 14–25 keV by the “Troitsk nu-mass” experiment

Abstract

We've performed precise measurements of electron scattering on molecular hydrogen and deuterium by using the "Troitsk nu-mass" setup. Electrons were generated by the electron gun with an energy line width better than 0.3 eV. The electron energies were 14, 17, 18.7, 19 and 25 keV. The windowless gaseous tritium source (WGTS) was filled by hydrogen isotopes and served as a target. The total column density was adjusted to form a length of 0.35--0.7 of the electron mean free path. The integral spectrum of scattered electrons was measured by the electrostatic spectrometer with a magnetic adiabatic collimation and relative energy resolution 8.3 10^{-5}. As a result, the shapes of molecular excitation and ionization spectra were extracted for both isotopes. We did not find any difference between hydrogen and deuterium targets. The relative energy dependence was extracted too.