Ionization of K Atoms in Collision with H2, N2, O2, and CO

Abstract

Absolute cross sections are reported here for the ionization of K atoms having laboratory energies in the range 20-1000 eV when interacting with ${\mathrm{H}}_2$, ${\mathrm{N}}_2$, ${\mathrm{O}}_2$, and CO molecules. The range of energies covered, $E$, and the corresponding cross sections ${\sigma }_{01}$ for each of the four target species are as follows: for ${\mathrm{O}}_2$, $20<E<\mathrm{}1000\mathrm{}$ eV, $8\times {10}^{-19\mathrm{}}<{\sigma }_{01}<1.1\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-15\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$; for ${\mathrm{N}}_2$, $50<E<\mathrm{}1000\mathrm{}$ eV, $2.5\times {10}^{-19\mathrm{}}<{\sigma }_{01}<4\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-17\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$; for CO, $100<E<\mathrm{}1000\mathrm{}$ eV, $2\times {10}^{-19\mathrm{}}<{\sigma }_{01}<2.3\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-17\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$; for ${\mathrm{H}}_2$, $150<E<\mathrm{}1000\mathrm{}$ eV, $6\times {10}^{-20\mathrm{}}<{\sigma }_{01}<8\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-18\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$.