ELECTRON COLLISIONS WITH NO - ELASTIC-SCATTERING AND ROVIBRATIONAL (0-]1, 2, 3, 4) EXCITATION CROSS-SECTIONS

The relative flow technique, utilizing helium as a cross section stand ard, has been applied to measure absolute elastic differential cross s ections for electron scattering from nitric oxide (NO). The present el astic measurements were conducted at nine energies in the range 1.5-40 eV, which represents an important extension to the only previous stud y of this system by Kubo and co-workers. Furthermore, the uncertaintie s in the present data are significantly reduced in comparison to those quoted in the earlier work. The current elastic differential cross se ctions were measured at the Australian National University over an ang ular range 10 degrees-130 degrees. We also report the first measuremen ts of absolute differential cross sections for rovibrational (0 --> 1, 2, 3, 4) excitation of the NO ground electronic state. These were con ducted at six energies in the range 7.5-40 eV and were measured at Fli nders University over the angular range 10 degrees-90 degrees. The dif ferential cross sections for both the elastic and inelastic processes are compared with the results of the recent Born-closure Schwinger var iational method calculation of Mu-Tao Lee and colleagues.