Electron scattering from polar hydrides using relativistic optical potential method

Abstract

We extend the relativistic spherical complex optical-potential method with group additivity developed in our recent work [S. Arya and B. Antony, \textit{RSC Adv.} \textbf{16}, 13548--13558 (2026)] to molecules with permanent dipole moments. The short-range electronic collision is described by a central Dirac partial-wave calculation, while the missing anisotropic long-range dipole interaction is restored through a rotationally resolved first-Born contribution. The rotational thresholds, state-to-state transition-dipole strengths, and thermal populations are obtained from the HITRAN2024 spectroscopic database and thermally reweighted at the adopted rotational temperature. Both excitation and superelastic de-excitation channels are included. Electron scattering from benchmark polar hydrides ($\rm H_2O$, $\rm H_2S$, $\rm NH_3$, and $\rm PH_3$) is investigated over the incident-energy range 0.1--10,000 eV. We report vibrationally elastic, differential, integral, and momentum-transfer cross sections, together with a total cross section that also contains electronically inelastic loss from the quasifree absorption potential. The calculations reproduce the broad experimental and recommended trends over a wide energy range. The largest deviations are confined mainly to the low-energy and resonance-sensitive regions. Overall, the agreement improves substantially from the tens-of-eV region upward. The method therefore retains the low computational cost and wide energy coverage of the optical-potential approach while adding the long-range rotational physics needed for polar molecules.