Inversion of Low-Energy Experimental He–He+ Elastic Differential Scattering Sections to the 2Σg+ and 2Σu+ Potentials

Abstract

An iterative technique coupled with the two‐state theory has been employed to obtain the He–He⁺ ground state and first excited state potentials from the 10‐ and 15‐eV experimental differential cross sections of Aberth and Lorents. This procedure is adaptable for the inversion of relative data. The resulting ungerade potential displays good agreement with the theoretical calculations of Reagen, Browne, and Matsen in the 0.8‐ to 2.5‐Å region, with the depth of the well found to be 2.34 eV from the 15‐eV data. The intermediate regions of both potentials show the dominant term of the power law to be approximately r⁻⁴.