Elastic scattering of twisted electrons by CO$_2$ molecules at high energies

Abstract

Elastic scattering of a twisted (Bessel) electron beam by CO$_2$ molecules is studied theoretically at high energies. The molecule's structure is optimized using coupled cluster theory and density functional theory with correlation-consistent and Pople basis sets. Coulomb potentials are used in the static approximation. The differential and total scattering cross-sections are computed in the first Born approximation. All cross-sections are orientation-averaged using a passive rotational averaging technique. The scattering is studied by the impact of the twisted beam with topological charges in the range $m_l$ = 1 and $m_l$ = 20. The cross sections are, in addition, averaged over the target's impact parameters, which accounts for the cross sections of a large distribution of CO$_2$ molecules. Finally, the molecule's total cross-section by plane waves and twisted beams is reported. The proposed methodology can be applied to study any polyatomic molecule, regardless of its structure.