Diabatic molecular states and the shielded diatomic orbitals method: Theoretical study ofHe++ D inelastic collisions

Within the one-configuration molecular-orbital scheme, diabatic molecular states of the molecular ion ${\mathrm{HeD}}^{+}$ involved in the collisional process ${\mathrm{He}}^{+}$ + D are determined by the shielded diatomic orbitals (SDO's) method. These SDO's are exact solutions of the one-electron-two-center problem with an effective parametric potential. This potential, which preserves the separability in prolate spheroidal coordinates of the Schrödinger equation, is obtained by classical electrostatic considerations. Differential cross sections for the ${\mathrm{He}}^{+}$D colliding system are determined by a semiclassical collisional method. Good agreement is found with recent experimental results in the keV energy range.