Collisions of Ne* (3s) and Ne+ with Ne: Excitation and charge transfer, elastic scattering, and diffusion

Results of previous structure calculations by the authors on the ground and excited states of Ne2 and Ne2+ are used to calculate total, diffusion, and excitation-(or charge-) transfer cross sections for collisions of Ne* (3s, 3P2/sub2,1,0/ and 1P1) and Ne+(2P/sub 3/2,1/2) with the ground-state neon atom. The calculations have been carried out both including and excluding spin-orbit coupling, to demonstrate its effect. The influences of curve crossings (and adiabatically avoided crossings), potential maxima, and long-range forces on the magnitude and shape of the cross sections are emphasized. It is shown that the inference of excited-state potential curves from experimental scattering data can be a much more difficult task than is commonly assumed. The calculated cross sections and related quantities are in generally good agreement with the available experimental measurements