Target correlation and polarization effects on the electron impact ionization of He atoms

Abstract

We have reported here the results of our investigation of the effects of electron correlation and polarization of the target in the incident channel on the electron impact ionization of the helium atom. The triple differential cross section (TDCS) is calculated for 28.6 eV incident electron energy for the case when the two final-state outgoing electrons share 4.0 eV excess energy equally and unequally and leave in the opposite direction. The electron correlation and polarization of the He-target in the initial state are considered completely ab initio using the recently extended multiconfiguration Hartree–Fock method. The electron correlation between the two outgoing electrons in the final state is included through the variationally determined screening potential. It is found that both target correlation and polarization in the incident channel play an important role; the polarization has larger effect on the TDCS than the target correlation. We compared our results with available experimental and theoretical data.