Electron scattering from copper

We have extended our recent calculations for electron-impact excitation of the $\rm (3d^9 4s^2)^2D_{5/2,3/2}$ states in copper [1] to elastic scattering as well as other transitions, most importantly the resonance transition $\rm (3d^{10}4s)^2S_{1/2} \to 3d^{10}4p)^2P_{1/2,3/2}$. In light of the challenges associated with the Cu target, an accurate knowledge of these cross sections is of high interest as a benchmark system for atomic collision theory while at the same time being a key ingredient for modeling applications such as the copper-vapor laser, which has become a well-established source of high-power visible light. Our calculations are based upon Breit-Pauli [2] and fully relativistic [3] versions of the $B$-spline $R$-matrix (close-coupling) complex [4]. We will compare our results with those from other recent calculations [5], and also present the relevant atomic structure data, in particular oscillator strenghts for a number of transitions. [1] O.~Zatsarinny, K.~Bartschat, V.~Suvorov, P.J.O.~Teubner, and M.J.~Brunger, Phys.`Rev. A~{\bf 81} (2010), in press. [2] O.~Zatsarinny and K.~Bartschat, J. Phys.`B~{\bf 37} (2004) 2173. [3] O.~Zatsarinny and K.~Bartschat, Phys.`Rev. A~{\bf 77} (2008) 062701. [4] O.~Zatsarinny, Comp. Phys.`Commun.~{\bf 174} (2006) 273. [5] V.~Suvorov, P.J.O.~Teubner, V.~Karaganov, K.~Ratnavelu, Y.~Zhou, and M.J.~Brunger, Phys.~Rev.~A~{\bf 80} (2009) 022711.