Scattering asymmetries of polarized electrons that have excited fine-structure levels of mercury atoms

The scattering asymmetry of polarized electrons is a source of information about spin-dependent interactions in electron-atom collisions. In inelastic scattering from mercury one has an interplay between the spin-orbit interaction and exchange interaction. Neglecting the spin-orbit interaction of the continuum electron in the field of the target atom results in simple relations between the asymmetries after excitation of the Hg states 6³P_0,1,2. While in former measurements the three fine-structure levels could not be completely resolved, the present experiment, performed with a newly designed electron detection system, yields more information about the validity of the approximation mentioned above for low energies. The asymmetries were measured in the angular range of 30'-130' at energies between 6.5 and 15 eV.