Investigation of the interference effect in the case of low energy electron emission from O2 in collisions with fast bare C-ions

Abstract

We have measured the double differential cross sections (DDCSs) for low energy electron emission from O2 under the impact of 51 MeV bare carbon ions. This study is aimed at investigating the Young-type interference in electron emission from a multi-electronic diatomic molecule. The DDCS spectra, differential in emission energy and angle, are compared with state-of-the-art continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state (CDW-EIS) calculations. The DDCS ratios (i.e. O2/2O) do not produce any oscillatory behaviour due to the interference effect unlike that observed in the case of H2. The forward–backward angular asymmetry parameter, deduced from the measured DDCS values, is found to be a monotonically increasing function of electron velocity and does not show any oscillation. These observations are in qualitative agreement with the prediction of the molecular CDW-EIS model which uses a linear combination of atomic orbitals. The apparent absence of the oscillation in the spectra is qualitatively explained in terms of cancellation of contributions arising from different molecular orbitals.