Cross sections for electron impact excitation of electronic states in UF6 at incident electron energies of 10, 20, and 40 eV

The inelastic scattering of electrons by UF6 has been studied at incident electron energies of 10, 20, and 40 eV, and for scattering angles of 20, 60, 90, and 135 deg. Using the structure of the energy-loss spectra, and recent theoretical work as a guide, the numerous electronic states between 3.3 and 10.0 eV were combined into nine inelastic features. These nine features were then examined in the electron energy-loss spectra by using a simple model to fit all the spectra in a least-squares sense and extract absolute differential cross sections for excitation of these composite features. Absolute integral cross sections were also obtained at these three incident electron energies. Absolute cross sections for elastic scattering of electrons by the UF6 molecule are also reported at impact energies ranging from 5 to 100 eV