Very low energy electron scattering by O₂

The authors have performed high resolution electron beam transmission experiments in O2 over the energy range 12 meV to 1 eV. They estimate an approximate trend in widths of the v'=4, 5 and 6 resonance states of the O2- intermediate and again the approximate trend in the relative contributions of the l=2, 4 and 6 partial waves. Widths lie in the meV range as found previously for v'=6 by Field et al. (1991) and higher partial waves contribute less at lower energies. Analysis of the non-resonant elastic scattering data below 100 meV shows that scattering takes place through an interaction dominated by s-waves.