Modified model for electron impact double ionization cross sections of atoms and ions

Abstract

A simple modification of the semiempirical model of Shevelko et al (J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 38, 525 (2005)) is proposed for the calculation of electron impact double ionization cross section of He^0, Li^(0,1+), B^(1+), C^(1+,3+), O^(0-3+), Ar^(0-7+), Fe^(1+,3+-6+), Kr^(0-4+), Xe^(0-8+), Pr^(1+-4+), Pb^(0-9+), Bi^(1+-3+,10+), and U^(0,10+,13+) atoms and positive ions. The contributions from the direct double ionization of outer shell and indirect processes of inner shells are also considered in the proposed modification. Ionic correction and relativistic factor are also incorporated. The results of the simplified model are compared with the experimental, quantum, and other semiempirical calculations where available. It is found that the proposed modification provides better performance than those obtained by the existing semiempirical cross sections over the range of incident energies and a significant number of atomic and ionic targets considered herein for the description of experimental cross sections.