Measurements on the glory structure in the total cross section of noble gas systems I. The beam apparatus and data reduction

A crossed supersonic atomic beam apparatus is described allowing accurate measurements on the glory structure in the total cross section for elastic scattering of a noble gas atom by a noble gas atom over a rather wide energy range. The experimental cross sections are unavoidably convoluted according to the finite velocity and angular resolution of the apparatus. It is shown that the data obtained from the present experiments can be deconvoluted to relative total cross section data as a function of velocity within practical limits of accuracy. These data provide a direct and sensitive test to the attractive part of the interatomic potential.