Low energy elastic scattering of hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium on helium isotopes
B. J. P. Jones, A. Negi, Aleksei Semakin
Abstract Motivated by the needs of atomic tritium sources for neutrino mass experiments and Doppler-free two-photon 1 S–2 S spectroscopy in atomic deuterium and tritium, we present calculations of energy-dependent elastic scattering cross sections of hydrogen isotopes (H, D, and T) on helium isotopes ( 3 He and 4 He) in the temperature range 1 mK to 300 K. The tritium-on-helium cross sections are found to be enhanced over their hydrogen-on-helium counterparts by a near-threshold resonant s -wave bound state at low energy, similar to one that has been predicted in the triplet T–T system. While the energy-dependent cross sections span a wide range at low energy due to this s -wave enhancement, they tend toward a common value at high energy where the scattering becomes effectively geometric in nature.
arXiv:2601.22360•The European Physical Journal D•Aug 1, 2026•0 citations