Triple-differential cross sections in three-dimensional kinematics for electron-impact-ionization dynamics of tetrahydrofuran at 250-eV projectile energy

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the ionization dynamics of tetrahydrofuran induced by 250 eV electron impact in which the highest occupied molecular orbital is ionized leading to the stable parent ion. Experimentally a reaction microscope was used, covering nearly the entire 4π solid angle for the ejected slow electron. We present the triple-differential cross sections for the projectile scattering angles of θ1 = -10∘ as a function of the emission angle of the ejected electrons with energies of E2=10, 15, and 20 eV, i.e., for asymmetric energy sharing between the scattered and ejected electrons. The measured triple-differential cross sections are internormalized across the three ejected energies. The experimental data are compared with predictions from the molecular three-body distorted-wave (M3DW), the multicenter distorted-wave (MCDW) approaches, and a modified MCDW-WM method which includes the postcollision interaction using the Ward-Macek approximation. Generally, the M3DW cross sections show better agreement with experiment than the MCDW calculations except for the emission angles near the projectile forward direction. The MCDW and MCDW-WM calculations do not reproduce the recoil lobes and show very small intensity for the cross sections outside the scattering plane.