Complete collision data set for electron scattering from molecular hydrogen and its isotopologues
COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited
Abstract
Cross sections resolved in the rovibrational levels of the target are required for determining the properties and dynamics of many low-temperature plasmas. We have applied the Molecular Convergent Close-Coupling (MCCC) method to produce a comprehensive set of vibrationally-resolved cross sections for electron collisions with molecular hydrogen and its isotopologues comprised of more than 57,000 entries [1]. This complete collision data set is available to the research community via the LXCat database and the dedicated MCCC database (mccc-db.org). For H$_2$ the data set includes transitions from all 14 vibrational levels of the ground electronic state to all vibrational levels of 18 excited electronic states (all states in the $n=2,3$ shells). Examples of modeling calculations based on the MCCC dataset will be presented for collisional-radiative (CR) modelling and Monte-Carlo simulation of electron propagation in H$_2$ plasmas. A study of electron scattering from the metastable $c~^3\Pi_u(v=0)$ state of H$_2$ will be presented and progress towards establishing a comprehensive dataset of vibrationally-resolved cross sections for transitions between excited levels will be discussed. [1] Scarlett et al., Atom. Data. Nucl. Data Tables (2020), submitted. Coauthors: L.~H.~Scarlett, I.~Bray, M.~C.~Zammit, Yu.~Ralchenko.
*This work was supported by Curtin University, the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Australian Government Research Training Program, and the Forrest Research Foundation.
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