On the electron impact cross-section maxima for dissociative and non-dissociative single ionization of molecules and radicals

Abstract

Determining absolute electron impact ionization cross-sections for atoms and molecules, whether through experimental or theoretical means, poses a formidable challenge and is typically limited to a narrow selection of species. In this paper, by using measured cross-sections and polarizability data, it was obtained empirical scaling laws for total single ionization and non-dissociative single ionization cross-section maximum of neutral molecules by collisions with electrons. It is found that the total single ionization cross sections scale linearly with the target electric static polarizability, while the non-dissociate cross sections exhibit a saturation effect for large target polarizabilities. This saturation effect is interpreted as the increasing role of fragmentation with polarizability.