Scattering between Hg Atoms and Light Atomic Projectiles of keV Energies

Abstract

Previously described measurements for the scattering of ${}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{H}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$, ${}_{}{}^4{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$, ${}_{}{}^{11}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{B}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$, and ${}_{}{}^{14}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{N}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ ions of energies $9<E<\mathrm{}75\mathrm{}$ keV by a thermal beam of Hg atoms have been extended to smaller angles. Angular distributions for $2.8<\mathrm{}{\theta }_L<40\mathrm{}$ deg have been measured for the scattering of all projectiles independent of final charge state. Differential scattering cross sections are in approximate agreement with the theory for scattering in a Thomas-Fermi potential over a range of five orders of magnitude. When the cross sections are reduced by the Lindhard procedure, we find that the Thomas-Fermi interaction is a better approximation to the actual potential than the Lenz-Jensen interaction.