Differential Cross Sections for Secondary Electron Production by 1.5-keV Electrons in Water Vapor

Authors

K. W. Hollman, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
G. W. Kerby, III, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
M. Eugene Rudd, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
J. H. Miller, Radiological Physics Section, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington
S. T. Manson, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia

Date of this Version

10-1-1988

Comments

Published in Physical Review A Volume 38, Number 7, October 1, 1988. Copyright © American Physical Society; used by permission.

Abstract

Discrepancies between previous experimental values of differential cross sections for electron-impact ionization of water vapor and recent model calculations have been largely resolved. A new measurement with improved suppression of spurious electrons has removed most of the discrepancy in the midrange of detected electron energies. A second discrepancy at secondary energies just below the primary energy has been explained by a more accurate accounting for electrons scattered at angles between zero and the minimum angle of the experimental apparatus. The improved data show more clearly the oxygen K-shell edge in the spectra at small angles and the Bethe ridge at angles up to 90". The forward peak seen in the earlier data is no longer present.