The H2–Ne interaction

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New measurements of the elastic and rotationally inelastic differential cross sections for the Ne–D2, Ne–H2 system are compared with exact and approximate quantum calculations. The three most recent high quality, semiempirical interaction potentials available in the literature for the Ne–H2 system yield consistent theoretical scattering cross sections for Ne–H2 and for Ne–D2. They also agree with previous and with present inelastic cross section measurements for D2. However, the theory underestimates by 30% the newly measured rotational excitation in Ne–H2 collisions discussed here. We therefore propose a new potential with a modified repulsive barrier that succeeds in describing both Ne–D2 and Ne–H2 rotationally inelastic scattering experiments for j=0→j′=2 within an accuracy of a few percent.