Momentum transfer cross section of xenon deducted from electron drift velocity data

Abstract

Momentum transfer cross section of xenon is deduced from experimental electron drift velocity data over the energy range from 0.02 to 10 eV by using an algorithm based on a Boltzmann equation method. The result shows that the Ramsauer-Townsend minimum is located at an electron energy of 0.7 eV with a magnitude of 9*10-17 cm2. It is found that the present momentum transfer cross section is in excellent agreement with the experimental data points of Register et al. (1986) and that the calculated diffusion coefficient (parallel direction to the electric field) from the deduced cross section agrees very well with the measurements of Hashimoto and Nakamura (1990) for E/N above 0.07 Td. The fractional difference between the calculated electron drift velocity and the experimental one is suppressed within 1.2% at E/N below 0.1 Td and within 3% at E/N above 0.1 Td. Above an electron energy of 8.32 eV, inelastic collision cross sections are necessary for the deduction of the momentum transfer cross section. Therefore, the total excitation cross section of Hayashi (1983) and the ionization cross section of Krishnakumar and Srivastava (1988) are used to deduce the momentum transfer cross section over a range of high electron energies. As a result, the peak of the deduced momentum transfer cross section is located at an electron energy of 5 eV with a magnitude of 3*10-15 cm2.