Large vibrational excitation of N <inf>2</inf> by low-energy electrons

Abstract

Electron impact excitation of the nitrogen molecule in the 0-5 eV energy region has been investigated. The energy dependence of the resonant excitation of the first ten vibrational levels, v = 1 to V = 10, has been measured by use of a double-trochoidal electron spectrometer. The relative differential cross sections so obtained are normalized to absolute values from the literature and compared to previous measurements and theoretical predictions. A new substructure, which is predicted by most recent theoretical calculations but not clearly seen in previous experiments, has been observed for the first time in the excitation functions for some of the vibrational levels.