An Attempt to Observe Mott Scattering Optically

Abstract

The authors report an attempt to make an optical observation of Mott scattering, involving the first studies of inelastic collisions between polarized electrons and a heavy noble gas. Polarization fractions of light emitted by the 5p 56p(5/2)3(3D3) state of Xe following impact excitation in an axial collision geometry were measured as a function of the incident electron energy, and compared with distorted-wave Born calculations. The theoretical and experimental results agree qualitatively in the energy range where cascade contributions to the photon signal are small. The authors failed to measure non-zero values of the linear polarization fraction η1 which would have constituted unambiguous evidence for Mott scattering and/or the importance of higher-order excitation processes in this system.

Department(s)

Physics

Keywords and Phrases

Axial collision; Distorted waves; Energy ranges; Excitation process; Impact excitation; Incident electrons; Inelastic collision; Linear polarization; Noble gas; Optical observations; Polarization fractions; Polarized electrons; Excited states; Polarization; Xenon; Scattering

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0953-4075

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1992 Institute of Physics - IOP Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Mar 1992

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