Born total ionisation cross sections: An algebraic computing program using Maple

The software described in this paper uses the Maple algebraic computing environment to calculate an analytic form for the matrix element of the plane-wave Born approximation of the electron-impact ionisation of an atomic orbital, with arbitrary orbital and angular momentum quantum numbers. The atomic orbitals are approximated by Hartree-Fock Slater functions, and the ejected electron is modelled by a hydrogenic Coulomb wave, made orthogonal to all occupied orbitals of the target atom. Clenshaw-Curtis integration techniques are then used to calculate the total ionisation cross-section. For improved performance, the numerical integrations are performed using FORTRAN by automatically converting the analytic matrix element for each orbital into a FORTRAN subroutine. The results compare favourably with experimental data for a wide range of elements, including the transition metals, with excellent convergence at high energies.