THE H-2-NE INTERACTION

New measurements of the elastic and rotationally inelastic differentia l cross sections for the Ne-D-2, Ne-H-2 system are compared with exact and approximate quantum calculations. The three most recent high qual ity, semiempirical interaction potentials available in the literature for the Ne-H-2 system yield consistent theoretical scattering cross se ctions for Ne-H-2 and for Ne-D-2. They also agree with previous and wi th present inelastic cross section measurements for D-2. However, the theory underestimates by 30% the newly measured rotational excitation in Ne-H-2 collisions discussed here. We therefore propose a new potent ial with a modified repulsive barrier that succeeds in describing both Ne-D-2 and Ne-H-2 rotationally inelastic scattering experiments for j = O-->j' = 2 within an accuracy of a few percent.