Cross sections for electron and photon processes required by electron-transport calculations

Electron-transport calculations rely on a large collection of electron-atom and photon-atom cross-section data to represent the response characteristics of the target medium. These basic atomic-physics quantities, and certain qualities derived from them that are now commonly in use, are critically reviewed. Publications appearing after 1978 are not given consideration. Processes involving electron or photon energies less than 1 keV are ignored, while an attempt is made to exhaustively cover the remaining independent parameters and target possibilities. Cases for which data improvements can be made from existing information are identified. Ranges of parameters for which state-of-the-art data are not available are sought out, and recommendations for explicit measurements and/or calculations with presently available tools are presented. An attempt is made to identify the maturity of the atomic-physics data and to predict the possibilities for rapid changes in the quality of the data. Finally, weaknesses in the state-of-the-art atomic-physics data and in the conceptual usage of these data in the context of electron-transport theory are discussed. Brief attempts are made to weight the various aspects of these questions and to suggest possible remedies