Electron-gas interaction potentials for collisions of CaCl(X 2Σ+) and KCl(X 1Σ+) with Ar

Interaction potentials for CaCl(X ²Σ⁺)-Ar and KCl(X ¹Σ⁺)-Ar have been determined. They include a Gordon-Kim electron-gas repulsive part smoothly joined to the long-range van der Waals potential. The van der waals potential for KClAr was taken from Meyer and Toennies. For CaClAr, the necessary molecular parameter were estimated from the Rittner model, which predicts both the dipole and quadrupole moments fairly accurately. The CaClAr interaction potential is quite different from that of KClAr. Due to the outer 4s electron on the Ca⁺ ion. the CaClAr potential exhibits a deep minimum in the odd-order Legendre terms which is expected to have a large effect on the cross sections for collisional rotational excitation. The KClAr potential determined here also shows significant differences in the repulsive and well regions from that predicted by Meyer and Toennies using a site-site model for the repulsive contribution.