Comparison of experiment and theory for superelastic electron collision studies from laser aligned magnesium

Abstract

A combined experimental and theoretical study of superelastic electron collisions from laser-aligned magnesium atoms for a range of collision energies from 35eV to 55eV is presented. 24Mg atoms were excited from the 31S0 ground state to the 31P1 excited state using continuous-wave linearly-polarized laser radiation at ~285 nm. Electrons of well-defined energy Einc then de-excited the targets, and the superelastically scattered electrons emerging from the collision were detected as a function of scattering angle and laser polarization. Results for alignment of the target by the electron beam are presented for a range of scattering angles, for outgoing energies from Eout = 35eV to 55eV . The agreement between the measurements and the results of the convergent close-coupling theory are encouraging, but some discrepancies remain.