Electron-impact excitation of xenon at incident energies between 15 and 80 eV

Normalized, absolute differential cross sections (DCS’s) have been measured for the 20 lowest electronic states of xenon. Incident electron energies were 15, 20, 30, and 80 eV and the scattering angles ranged from 5° to 150°. The energy resolution was 40 meV. Absolute elastic DCS’s have been obtained by normalizing the relative values to the recently published absolute elastic DCS’s by Register et al. [J. Phys. B 19, 1685 (1986)]. Elastic-to-inelastic intensity ratios, at different incident energies for the 6s${\left[\right(3/2\mathrm{}]}_1$ state were determined. These ratios were utilized as secondary standards to establish the absolute scale for the other inelastic processes in accordance with intensity ratios of lines in energy-loss spectra. The absolute inelastic DCS’s were extrapolated to 0° and 180° and integrated to yield the integral cross sections (ICS’s). A comparison of the present DCS’s with the only available measurements at 20 eV impact energy shows satisfactory agreement in shape but considerable difference in absolute value.