Steric Effects in e-N2 Scattering

Steric effects in collisions between electrons and ensembles of free diatomic molecules with an arbitrary axis distribution are investigated. A general expression for the angular distribution of the scattered projectiles is derived where the factors characterizing the preparation of the beam, the factors depending on the dynamics of the collision and the factors describing the geometry of the experiment are separated from each other. The obtained expression is quite general and applies to elastic, inelastic and reactive collisions with electrons or atoms. Numerical R-matrix results for differential cross sections of elastic electron-scattering with aligned N2 beams are presented for various collision energies and several experimental geometries. It is shown that significant steric effects can be observed if either the initial alignment or certain steric factors are sufficiently large.