Cross Sections for Ionizaton of Gases by 5-4000-keV Protons and for Electron Capture by 5-150-keV Protons

Authors

• M. Eugene Rudd, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• R. D. DuBois, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington
• L. H. Toburen, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington
• C. A. Ratcliffe, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington
• T. V. Goffe, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

12-1983

Comments

Published in Physical Review A Volume 28, Number 6, December 1983. Copyright © American Physical Society; used by permission.

Abstract

Using the parallel-plate-capacitor method and a capacitance manometer to determine pressures, total cross sections for the production of positive and negative charges were measured for 5-4000- keV-proton impact on He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Hz, N₂, CO, 0₂, CH₄, and C0₂. From these, ionization and electron-capture cross sections were obtained and fitted to semi-empirical equations describing the energy dependence in terms of a few parameters. At high energies very good agreement is obtained in the comparison of the ionization cross sections to earlier proton- and electron-impact measurements and with theoretical treatments where they are available, but discrepancies exist for some targets at low energy. Above 10 keV the electron-capture cross sections are in agreement with earlier work for all the targets except CO and CH₄ for which they are (20-40)% higher.