Energy-related atomic and molecular structure and scattering studies. Annual progress report, July 1, 1980-June 30, 1981

The basic goals of this program concern the experimental determination of properties of atoms and molecules and molecular clusters that are important in a wide range of energy-related processes, in particular, measurements of polarizabilities of highly polar molecules and their polymers, and of a number of important atomic elements distributed through the periodic table, as well as of the scattering of low-energy electrons by these same systems. The most significant scientific accomplishment of the program during the past year has been the completion of measurements of the dc electric dipole polarizabilities of a number of alkali halide dimers [(KCl)2, (RbCl)2, (CsCl)2, (KF)2, and (CsF)2]. An experiment was completed to measure the total cross sections for the scattering of low-energy electrons by atomic lithium, a very significant experimental test of a relatively simple, many-body system, which is amenable to elaborate computational determination