Differential cross sections for the j=0→1 rotational excitation in HD–Ne collisions and their relevance to the anisotropic interaction

Abstract

In a crossed molecular beam experiment, time‐of‐flight distributions of HD‐molecules scattered from Ne at an energy of 31.5 meV have been measured using the pseudorandom chopper method. Each time‐of‐flight spectrum shows a clearly resolved inelastic peak due to rotational excitation of HD from j=0 to j=1. With the aid of these spectra, together with additional measurements of the total differential cross section, the angular dependence of the differential cross section for the excitation j=0→1 is derived over a large angular range (20° to 120°). The sensitivity of the data to the interaction potential is carefully studied and the measured inelastic differential cross sections are compared with calculations based on interaction potentials recently proposed for this system.