STUDIES OF ELECTRON-MOLECULE SCATTERING AT MICROELECTRONVOLT ENERGIES USING VERY-HIGH-N RYDBERG ATOMS

Atoms in very high Rydberg states, 100 less than or similar to n less than or similar to 1100, are used to investigate electron-molecule interactions at electron energies extending down to a few microelectronvolts. At such energies the cross section for electron capture by CCl4 is observed to vary inversely with electron velocity, indicative of an s-wave process. Studies with the polar target CH3Cl suggest that dipole-supported states may be important in inelastic electron-polar molecule scattering at very low electron energies.