Ion mobility test of Li+–Ar potentials

Theoretical potentials for the interaction of lithium ions with argon atoms have been developed by Kim and Gordon, and by Gordon and Waldman, using electron gas–Drude model calculations and by Olson and Liu using both SCF and CI calculations. In this paper the ion mobilities are obtained for each of these potentials and are compared with experimental data. The CI potential gives the best agreement with experiment but still differs significantly in the low E/N region. A potential which is directly determined to fit the experimental data only departs from the CI potential for internucleus separation distances larger than 6 a.u. and leaves the potential well (around 4.5 a.u.) almost unchanged.