ALGORITHMS FOR THE RAPID COMPUTATION OF CLASSICAL CROSS-SECTIONS FOR SCREENED COULOMB COLLISIONS

The development of medium energy backscattering with ions whose energies are as low as 50 keV and whose masses range up to that of C-12+ has generated the need for accurate and efficient mathematical methods for the computation of classical cross sections for screened Coulomb collisions. This paper presents a procedure for the computation which preserves most of the accuracy of more elaborate numerical solutions and is fast enough for all but the most time consuming Monte Carlo calculations. Comparisons are made between this approach and previous computations and approximations, and between the computed scattering cross sections for several screening functions.