Triple differential cross-section for the twisted electron impact ionization of water molecule

TL;DR

This study calculates the triple differential cross-section for water molecule ionization by twisted electrons, revealing how the electron's orbital angular momentum and beam opening angle influence ionization patterns.

Contribution

It introduces a formalism for TDCS calculation using twisted electron beams and compares effects of OAM and beam angle on water molecule ionization.

Findings

Twisted electron OAM number affects TDCS angular profiles.

Opening angle of twisted electron beam influences ionization cross-sections.

Differences observed between plane wave and twisted electron impact ionization.

Abstract

In this communication, we present the results of the triple differential cross-section (TDCS) for the (e,2e) process on H2O molecule for the plane wave and the twisted electron beam impact. The formalism is developed in the first Born approximation. We describe the plane/twisted wave, plane wave, the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) (self-consistent field LCAO method) and Coulomb wave for the incident electron, scattered electron, the molecular state of H2O, and the ejected electron, respectively. We investigate the angular profiles of the TDCS for the outer orbitals 1B1, 3A1, 1B2, and 2A1 of the water molecule. We compare the angular profiles of the TDCS for the different values of orbital angular momentum (OAM) number m of the twisted electron beam with that of the plane wave beam. We also study the TDCS for macroscopic H2O target to explore the effect of opening angle {\theta}p of the twisted electron beam on the TDCS. Our results clearly show the effect of the twisted electron's OAM number (m) and the opening angle {\theta}p on the TDCS of the water molecule.