Electron-impact excitation cross sections for transitions in atomic copper

We report results of the first ab initio, close-coupling calculations of the electron impact excitation of atomic copper in the 0.1--8.0-eV range. Integrated, inelastic cross sections are given for the low-lying ²^∘ and ²Dᵉ excited states, which are important to the kinetics of the copper vapor laser. The calculated cross sections exhibit a rich resonance structure due to Cu^- states, which have not been previously known.