Elastic Scattering of Slow Electrons from Alkali Atoms

The elastic scattering cross sections for slow electrons incident on sodium and potassium are calculated using a model for the polarization potential which was earlier used for cesium. In all the alkalis studied, the low-energy scattering cross sections show an extreme sensitivity to the exact shape of the polarization potential in the region where $r$ is comparable to the atomic radius of the target atom, indicating the necessity of having an accurate description of the polarization term in the total scattering interaction potential. Results are compared with available experimental data. In its application to the alkali atoms, this model yields results which are in good agreement with current experimental results.