Elastic scattering of electrons by gadolinium and barium atoms

Total and differential cross-sections for elastic scattering of electrons from gadolinium and barium atoms in a wide energy range were calculated. In the low- and intermediate-energy regions, the phase theory of elastic scattering was used. At low incident energies (<10 eV), an additional polarization potential was introduced. At high incident energies, the Born approximation (keV range) and the Rutherford formula (MeV range) were applied. Our results are in rather good agreement with experimental data of Romanyuk et al, (Pis'ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fit. 32 (1980) 472) for elastic scattering of very-low-energy electrons from barium atoms which confirm its reliability. This agreement is important because these experimental results are in serious disagreement with theoretical calculations of Szmytkowski and Sienkiewicz (Phys. Rev. A 50 (1994) 4007). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.