Low-energy collisions between electrons and BeD$^+$

TL;DR

This study uses multichannel quantum defect theory to calculate electron collision processes with BeD$^+$ ions across various vibrational states, providing data crucial for fusion plasma modeling and spectroscopy.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive calculation of dissociative recombination and vibrational excitation rates for BeD$^+$ ions considering multiple electronic symmetries and vibrational levels.

Findings

Calculated cross sections and rate coefficients for BeD$^+$ collisions.

Data cover electron energies from 10^{-5} to 2.7 eV.

Results aid in fusion plasma diagnostics and modeling.

Abstract

Multichannel quantum defect theory is applied in the treatment of the dissociative recombination and vibrational excitation processes for the BeD$^+$ ion in the twenty four vibrational levels of its ground electronic state ($\textrm{X}\,{^{1}\Sigma^{+}},v_{i}^{+}=0\ldots 23$). Three electronic symmetries of BeD$^{**}$ states (\ensuremath{^{2}\Pi}, \ensuremath{^{2}\Sigma^{+}}, and \ensuremath{^{2}\Delta}), are considered in the calculation of cross sections and the corresponding rate coefficients. The incident electron energy range is $10^{-5}$--2.7 eV and the electron temperature range is 100--5000~K. The vibrational dependence of these collisional processes is highlighted. The resulting data are useful in magnetic confinement fusion edge plasma modelling and spectroscopy, in devices with beryllium based main chamber materials, such as ITER and JET, and operating with the deuterium-tritium fuel mix. An extensive rate coefficients database is presented in graphical form and also by analytic fit functions whose parameters are tabulated in the supplementary material.