Chuangang Ning

Experimental and theoretical investigation of the triple differential cross section for electron impact ionization of pyrimidine molecules

Cross-section data for electron impact induced ionization of bio-molecules are important for modelling the deposition of energy within a biological medium and for gaining knowledge of electron driven processes at the molecular level. Triply differential cross sections have been measured for the electron impact ionization of the outer valence 7b(2) and 10a(1) orbitals of pyrimidine, using the (e, 2e) technique. The measurements have been performed with coplanar asymmetric kinematics, at an incident electron energy of 250 eV and ejected electron energy of 20 eV, for scattered electron angles of -5°, -10°, and -15°. The ejected electron angular range encompasses both the binary and recoil peaks in the triple differential cross section. Corresponding theoretical calculations have been performed using the molecular 3-body distorted wave model and are in reasonably good agreement with the present experiment.

Experimental and Theoretical Electron Momentum Spectroscopic Study of the Valence Electronic Structure of Tetrahydrofuran under Pseudorotation

The most populated structure of tetrahydrofuran (THF) has been investigated in our previous study using electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS). Because of the relatively low impact energy (600 eV) and low energy resolution (DeltaE = 1.20 eV) in the previous experiment, only the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of THF was investigated. The present study reports the most recent high-resolution EMS of THF in the valence space for the first time. The binding energy spectra of THF are measured at 1200 and 2400 eV plus the binding energies, respectively, for a series of azimuthal angles. The experimentally obtained binding energy spectra and orbital momentum distributions (MDs) are employed to study the orbital responses of the pseudorotation motion of THF. The outer valence Greens function (OVGF), the OVGF/6-311++G** model, and density function theory (DFT)-based SAOP/et-pVQZ model are employed to simulate the binding energy spectra. The orbital momentum distributions (MDs) are produced using the DFT-based B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ model, incorporating thermodynamic population analysis. Good agreement between theory and experiment is achieved. Orbital MDs of valence orbitals exhibit only slight differences with respect to the impact energies at 1200 and 2400 eV, indicating validation of the plane wave impulse approximation (PWIA). The present study has further discovered that the orbital MDs of the HOMO in the low-momentum region (p < 0.70 a.u) change significantly with the pseudorotation angle, phi, giving a v-shaped cross section, whereas the innermost valence orbital of THF does not vary with pseudorotation, revealing a very different bonding mechanism from the HOMO. The present study explores an innovative approach to study pseudorotation of sugar puckering, which sheds a light to study other biological systems with low energy barriers among ring-puckering conformations.

Dynamical (e, 2e) studies using tetrahydrofuran as a DNA analog

Triple differential cross sections for the electron-impact ionization of the outer valence orbital of tetrahydrofuran have been measured using the (e, 2e) technique. The measurements have been performed with coplanar asymmetric kinematics, at an incident electron energy of 250 eV and at an ejected electron energy of 10 eV, over a range of momentum transfers. The experimental results are compared with theoretical calculations carried out using the molecular three-body distorted wave model. The results obtained are important for gaining an understanding of electron driven processes at a molecular level and for modeling energy deposition in living tissue.

Investigation of orbital momentum profiles of methylpropane (isobutane) by binary (e,2e) spectroscopy

Momentum profiles of the valence orbitals of methylpropane, also known as isobutane (CH3CH(CH3)CH3), have been studied by using a high resolution binary (e,2e) electron momentum spectrometer (EMS), at an impact energy of 1200 eV plus the binding energy, and using symmetric noncoplanar kinematics. The coincidence energy resolution of the EMS spectrometer is 0.95 eV full width at half-maximum. The experimental momentum profiles of the valence orbitals are compared with the theoretical momentum distributions calculated using Hartree–Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) methods with the two basis sets of 6-31G and 6-311++G**. The B3LYP functionals are used for the DFT calculations. In general, the experimental momentum distributions are well described by the HF and DFT calculations. The pole strengths of the main ionization peaks from the orbitals in the inner valence are estimated.

Investigation of the molecular conformations of ethanol using electron momentum spectroscopy

The valence electronic structure and momentum-space electron density distributions of ethanol have been investigated with our newly constructed high-resolution electron momentum spectrometer. The measurements are compared to thermally averaged simulations based on Kohn–Sham (B3LYP) orbital densities as well as one-particle Greens function calculations of ionization spectra and Dyson orbital densities, assuming Boltzmanns statistical distribution of the molecular structure over the two energy minima defining the anti and gauche conformers. One-electron ionization energies and momentum distributions in the outer-valence region were found to be highly dependent upon the molecular conformation. Calculated momentum distributions indeed very sensitively reflect the distortions and topological changes that molecular orbitals undergo due to the internal rotation of the hydroxyl group, and thereby exhibit variations which can be traced experimentally. The B3LYP model Kohn–Sham orbital densities are overall in good agreement with the experimental distributions, and closely resemble benchmark ADC(3) Dyson orbital densities. Both approaches fail to quantitatively reproduce the experimental momentum distributions characterizing the highest occupied molecular orbital. Since electron momentum spectroscopy measurements at various electron impact energies indicate that the plane wave impulse approximation is valid, this discrepancy between theory and experiment is tentatively ascribed to thermal disorder, i.e. large-amplitude and thermally induced dynamical distortions of the molecular structure in the gas phase.

Dynamical (e, 2e) studies of formic acid

We present triply differential cross sections for the electron impact ionization of the outer valence orbitals of formic acid (CHOOH) by 100 eV and 250 eV incident electrons. The experiments were performed under asymmetric kinematics, in which the outgoing ejected electron had an energy of 10 eV, over a range of momentum transfers. The experimental results are compared with theoretical calculations carried out using the sophisticated M3DW model, both with and without correlation-polarization-exchange terms included.

Dynamical (e,2e) studies of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

Cross section data for electron scattering from DNA are important for modelling radiation damage in biological systems. Triply differential cross sections for the electron impact ionization of the highest occupied outer valence orbital of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, which can be considered as an analogue to the deoxyribose backbone molecule in DNA, have been measured using the (e,2e) technique. The measurements have been performed with coplanar asymmetric kinematics at an incident electron energy of 250 eV, an ejected electron energy of 20 eV, and at scattered electron angles of -5°, -10°, and -15°. Experimental results are compared with corresponding theoretical calculations performed using the molecular 3-body distorted wave model. Some important differences are observed between the experiment and calculations.

A dynamical (e,2e) investigation of the structurally related cyclic ethers tetrahydrofuran, tetrahydropyran, and 1,4-dioxane

Triple differential cross section measurements for the electron-impact ionization of the highest occupied molecular orbitals of tetrahydropyran and 1,4-dioxane are presented. For each molecule, experimental measurements were performed using the (e,2e) technique in asymmetric coplanar kinematics with an incident electron energy of 250 eV and an ejected electron energy of 20 eV. With the scattered electrons being detected at -5°, the angular distributions of the ejected electrons in the binary and recoil regions were observed. These measurements are compared with calculations performed within the molecular 3-body distorted wave model. Here, reasonable agreement was observed between the theoretical model and the experimental measurements. These measurements are compared with results from a recent study on tetrahydrofuran [D. B. Jones, J. D. Builth-Williams, S. M. Bellm, L. Chiari, C. G. Ning, H. Chaluvadi, B. Lohmann, O. Ingolfsson, D. Madison, and M. J. Brunger, Chem. Phys. Lett. 572, 32 (2013)] in order to evaluate the influence of structure on the dynamics of the ionization process across this series of cyclic ethers.

Triply differential (e,2e) studies of phenol.

We have measured (e,2e) triple differential cross sections (TDCS) for the electron-impact ionisation of phenol with coplanar asymmetrical kinematics for an incident electron energy of 250 eV. Experimental measurements of the angular distribution of the slow outgoing electrons at 20 eV are obtained when the incident electron scatters through angles of -5°, -10°, and -15°, respectively. The TDCS data are compared with calculations performed within the molecular 3-body distorted wave model. In this case, a mixed level of agreement, that was dependent on the kinematical condition being probed, was observed between the theoretical and experimental results in the binary peak region. The experimental intensity of the recoil features under all kinematical conditions was relatively small, but was still largely underestimated by the theoretical calculations.

Low-energy symmetric coplanar and symmetric non-coplanar (e, 2e) studies from the 3a1 state of H2O

Experimental and theoretical results are presented for electron impact ionization of water in the energy regime from near threshold to intermediate energies. Results were taken in symmetric coplanar and non-coplanar geometries, with both equal and non-equal outgoing electron energies. The models approximate the random orientation of the target using a spherical averaging of the wavefunction prior to the collision, using sophisticated distorted wave Born calculations that include post-collisional interactions in first order and to all orders of perturbation theory. The calculations predict the data most accurately at the lowest energy studied (4 eV above threshold) in a coplanar symmetric geometry, whereas the comparison between theory and experiment is generally marginal for higher energies and for non-coplanar geometries.