Elastic and inelastic scattering of electrons by Ne,Ar,Kr, and Xe

Measurements are reported of angular distributions for electrons elastically scattered from argon in the energy range from 15 eV to 200 eV, and over a more limited energy range for krypton, neon and xenon. A modulated cross beam technique was employed and an angular resolution of about 30 realized in the range 200 - 1400. In general the results agree well with those of previous workers at the higher energies, but it is observed that the dynamic range of the present results is far greater at intermediate and lower energies. We have calculated angular distribution using a semiphenomenological optical model and find good agreement with the experimental data down to 30 eV. The recent relativistic calculation of Walker (1971, Advances in Physics 20, 257-323) are in good agreement with the data over the whole energy range. The measured relative dependence with energy of the differential cross sections at 300 are compared with theory. Several angular distributions for the inelastic scattering of electrons from argon and krypton have been measured in the energy range 30-120 eV. The data are compared with the theory of Sawada et al (1971, Phys. Rev. A4, 193-203). (author)