Reiner Feltgen

Reiner Feltgen
Residence	D-37688 Beverungen, Germany
Nationality	German
Known for	Experimental determination of the He–He interatomic potential
Scientific career
Fields	Atomic and molecular physics
Institutions	Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung, Göttingen

Reiner Feltgen is a German physicist known for his experimental work in atomic and molecular physics, particularly the study of interatomic potentials and chemi-ionization reactions using crossed atomic and molecular beams.

Biography

Feltgen carried out his research at the Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung (Max Planck Institute for Fluid Dynamics) in Göttingen, Germany, where he worked in the field of atomic and molecular beam physics. He resides in Beverungen, Germany.

Work

Feltgen's research centered on the measurement and interpretation of atomic and molecular collision processes at thermal and low collision energies. Using crossed-beam techniques, he investigated elastic scattering, interatomic interaction potentials, and chemi-ionization (Penning ionization) reactions.

A central contribution was the experimental determination of the helium–helium (He₂) ground-state interaction potential. In a widely cited 1982 study with H. Kirst, K. A. Köhler, H. Pauly, and F. Torello, high-resolution total differential cross-section measurements were combined with a reliable potential model to obtain the He₂ ground-state potential from experiment. The weakly bound helium dimer has since been of considerable interest in the study of quantum-mechanical few-body systems.

Feltgen also studied chemi-ionization reactions in which metastable helium atoms, He*(2¹S) and He*(2³S), collide with rare-gas and other target atoms. This work included measurements of the energy dependence of ionization cross sections over a wide range of collision energies, contributing to the understanding of Penning and associative ionization processes.

Selected publications

Several articles in Journal of Chemical Physics, Chemical Physics Letters, Physical Review A, etc.

• R. Feltgen, H. Kirst, K. A. Köhler, H. Pauly and F. Torello, "Unique determination of the He₂ ground state potential from experiment by use of a reliable potential model," Journal of Chemical Physics, V76, N5, pp. 2360-2378 (1982).
• "The Chemi-Ionization of He*(2^1,3S) + Ar,Kr,Xe for Collision Energies from 0.003 to 6 eV," Journal of Chemical Physics, V111, N16, pp. 7298-7315 (1999). (with five co-authors)

External links

• Unique determination of the He2 ground state potential from experiment (J. Chem. Phys., 1982)
• The chemi-ionization of He*(2 1,3S) + Ar, Kr, Xe (J. Chem. Phys., 1999)