EPJ D Colloquium - Electron scattering processes: fundamentals, challenges, advances, and opportunities

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Published on 05 October 2022

Perspectives of a global team of experts on recent and significant advances and challenges in the electron scattering field

Over the past several decades, significant efforts of the electron-scattering community have been devoted to achieving an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of processes that involve low-energy electron interactions with diverse targets, ranging from atoms to complex systems.

In this colloquium paper published in EPJ D, a team of five multinational experts focused on some of the advancements and recent progress in the field. In particular, references are made to concrete case studies to probe the agreement between cross-section data obtained from experiments and theory, as well as to selected instrumentation developments to probe dynamics of dissociative processes induced by electron impact.

“Writing this paper, our intention was to provide specific challenges and needs in electron scattering by showcasing concrete examples of studies that can pave the way for further scientific advancements and open new research endeavors,” said co-author Prof. Sylwia Ptasinska from the University of Notre Dame. “Since starting my Ph.D. in this field twenty years ago, my excitement working on electron processes has been continuously growing by learning about new discoveries and findings which my colleagues achieved using advanced experimental and theoretical tools.”

As stated in the paper, qualitative and quantitative descriptions of electron scattering processes are essential not only from the fundamental science point of view but also due to their ever-increasing importance in many industrial and medical applications. “Simply put, electrons rule the world—from quantum physics to cancer treatment,” Prof. Ptasinska added.