Elastic and inelastic scattering in the Li++He system

Abstract

Experimental studies of the Li⁺+He interaction have been extended to smaller internuclear separations to clarify a discrepancy between experiment and theory in the elastic cross sections and to observe and measure cross sections for inelastic excitation. For R0 the elastic scattering differential cross section is observed to drop far below that expected from a single state interaction based on ab initio ground state potentials. In this same region of R both one and two electron excitations of He are observed to be strongly excited, and cross sections were measured for each of them. The lowest inelastic channel is an electron capture state, which is observed indirectly to be strongly populated also. A diabatic correlation diagram is constructed that exhibits the basic interactions responsible for the excitation.