Electron impact single ionization of copper

L K JHA*, O P ROY ⁺ and B N ROY⁺⁺

* Department of Physics, L.N.T. College, Muzaffarpur 842 002, India

⁺ Department of Physics, M.S.K.B. College, Muzaffarpur 842 002, India

⁺⁺ Professor's Colony, Aghoria Bazar, Muzaffarpur 842 002, India

Abstract.

Electron impact single ionization cross sections of copper have been calculated in the binary encounter approximation using accurate expression for s _DE as given by Vriens and Hartree--Fock momentum distribution for the target electron. The BEA calculation based on the usual procedure does not show satisfactory agreement with experiment in this case but a striking modification is found to be successful in explaining the experimental observations. The discrepancy is linked with the ionization of the 3d¹⁰ electrons and probably effective single ionization does not take place from 3d shell of copper leading to smaller values of experimental cross sections.

Keywords: Electron impact ionization; binary encounter approximation; Hartree--Fock momentum distribution; copper.

Pacs No. 79.20.Kz; 79.20.Ap