A distorted wave impulse approach for atom--diatom collisions

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.465018· OSTI ID:5642601

Dothe, H ^[1]; Sharma, R D ^[2]

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1. Yap Analytics Inc., Lexington, Massachusetts 02173 (United States)
2. Phillips Laboratory, Optical Environment Division (GPOS), Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts 01731-5000 (United States)

A formalism is derived to include the effects of the long-range attractive part of the interaction potential in the calculation of atom--diatom collision cross sections using the impulse approach (IA). These calculations have, until now, assumed the atom--diatom potential given by a sum of two atom--atom interactions, consequently yielding a poor representation of the long-range attractive part. In the distorted wave impulse approach (DWIA) the long-range attractive part, located at the center of mass of the diatom, is a spherically symmetric potential which distorts'' the incoming and outgoing waves. The DWIA formalism is used to calculate differential cross sections for the rotationally inelastic process Li[sup +]+N[sub 2]([ital v]=0, [ital j]=2)[r arrow]Li[sup +]+N[sub 2]([ital v][prime]=0, [ital j][prime]), as a function of the final rotational level [ital j][prime], at a relative kinetic energy of 4.23 eV and center of mass scattering angles of 49.2[degree] and 37.1[degree]. It is shown that differential cross sections calculated using the DWIA formalism are in much better agreement with experimentally measured ones than IA differential cross sections using atom--atom interactions expressed by either hard-core, or exponential repulsive, functions.

• OSTI ID: 5642601
• Journal Information: Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States) Vol. 98:6; ISSN JCPSA6; ISSN 0021-9606
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

664300* -- Atomic & Molecular Physics-- Collision Phenomena-- (1992-)
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
CHARGED PARTICLES
COLLISIONS
CROSS SECTIONS
DIFFERENTIAL CROSS SECTIONS
DISTORTED WAVE THEORY
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EQUATIONS
EXCITED STATES
IMPULSE APPROXIMATION
INELASTIC SCATTERING
ION COLLISIONS
ION-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
IONS
LITHIUM IONS
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
POTENTIALS
ROTATIONAL STATES
SCATTERING
SCATTERING AMPLITUDES
USES