Vol. 36, Issue 4, pp. 551-557 (2006)

Abstract

Inelastic electron scattering from molecular oxygen has been studied for high scattering angles, from 90° to 180°, at the electron incident energy of 10 eV using magnetic angle-changing technique. Excitation of vibrational levels v = 1–9 of the X³S_g^– ground state and v = 0 of the a¹D_g first excited state of oxygen has been observed. From the measured energy loss spectra differential cross-section for excitation of v = 1 vibrational level of the X³S_g^– state has been determined in the above scattering angle range. In the measurements a newly constructed double hemispherical electrostatic electron spectrometer has been employed which incorporates a recently designed conical magnetic angle-changer.