Electron-Atom Superelastic Scattering in Magnesium at Millielectron Volt Energies†

The energy dependence of superelastic scattering is measured for electrons on Mg(31P) from threshold to 270 meV with a novel technique. The method uses photoelectrons produced by a narrow bandwidth laser as an approximately monoenergetic incident electron source to collide with excited atoms. Measurements are made at energies as low as 1.5 meV with a resolution of 1 meV near threshold. An efficient magnetic-bottle time-of-flight electron spectrometer allows for the simultaneous measurement of multiple scattering channels. Above-threshold ionization is also observed. The measured energy dependence for transitions from the 31P state to both the 33P and 31S are found to be inversely proportional to the energy from 10 to 270 meV. Below 10 meV, the dependencies are different, with the 33P transition having an E-1/2 dependence and the 31S channel retaining an E-1 dependence. 1