Electron impact excitation of 2p and 3p states of hydrogen at intermediate energies

A coupled-channel-optical (CCO) calculation with 9 and 12 atomic states supplemented with the continuum optical potentials for the stronger coupling channels has been performed for the electron impact excitation of hydrogen. The calculated n = 2 and n = 3 differential cross sections and the reduced Stokes parameters are comparable with the state-of-the art calculations. There is closer agreement between the present calculations and the experimental measurements for the reduced Stokes parameters P-bar1 and P-bar3 in the n = 2p excitation at 54.4 eV. The present CCO calculations also display good accord with the limited experimental data for the reduced Stokes parameters in the n = 3p excitation. (authors)