Low-energy electron elastic collision cross sections for ground and excited Tm, Lu and Hf atoms

Low-energy 0 ⩽ E ⩽ 1.0 eV electron elastic scattering from ground and excited Tm, Lu and Hf atoms has been investigated. Both total and differential cross sections have been calculated; the latter at the scattering angles θ = 0°, 90° and 180°. The recent Regge-pole methodology has been used for the calculations. In the method the crucial electron–electron correlation effects are accounted for through the Mulholland formula. We find that the total cross sections are characterized generally by shape resonances, Ramsauer-Townsend minima and dramatically sharp long-lived resonances from which we extract the binding energies of the negative ions. Our extracted binding energy of the Hf− negative ion from the total cross section is compared with that of Pan and Beck [14].