Theory of the Scattering of Slow Electrons by Diatomic Molecules

The problem of the Ramsauer effect for diatomic molecules has been treated in a manner analogous to that used by Allis and Morse for atoms. The molecule is represented by a simplified potential field in spheroidal coordinates, and an exact solution is obtained, valid for all velocities of incident electrons. The calculations of "total cross section for elastic scattering" are made in terms of three parameters whose values for a given molecule are definitely determined from data of band spectroscopy and from Slater's rules for atomic shielding constants. Calculations have been carried out in the region of incident electron velocities 0 to 40 volts for N₂, O₂, and H₂, for which molecules excellent agreement is obtained with experiment.