Oscillator strengths and cross sections of the valence shell excitations in nitrous oxide studied by high-energy electron scattering

Generalized oscillator strengths (GOSs) of the valence shell excitations to the A(1)Sigma(-) + B-1 Delta, C-1 Pi, D-1 Sigma(+) and 2(1) Pi states in nitrous oxide have been determined by employing an angle-resolved electron energy loss spectrometer operated at an incident energy of 1500 eV and an energy resolution of about 80 meV. Detailed comparisons with the previous data indicate that the higher-order Born terms play a significant role in the GOSs of C-1 Pi and D-1 Sigma(+) states at either low impact energies or large momentum transfers, and the GOSs of A(1)Sigma(-) + B-1 Delta and C-1 Pi states measured with the gas cell may suffer from the pressure effect. The measured GOS data are fitted with the Lassettre formula to determine the corresponding optical oscillator strengths (OOSs) and calculate the integral cross sections (ICSs) based on the BE-scaling method. The oscillator strengths and cross sections in this work provide a cross check on the previous data and can serve as a benchmark for testing the developed theoretical models and computational codes.