Electron screening of the Coulomb potential at small internuclear distances

Values of He+-Au potential at small internuclear distances (R = 10−4 to 10−3 nm) have been obtained from the Rutherford backscattering (RBS) data. The potential has been shown to be independent of the collision velocity and close to the potential approximation proposed in Zinoviev (2011) [1]. Experimental data on the electron screening of the Coulomb potential enabled calculation of corrections for the nuclear fusion cross-sections and improvement of the RBS data quantitative analysis.