Inelastic scattering of a pulsed electron beam from a molecular wave packet Original Research Article

We present a theory for the scattering of a short electron pulse from a molecular wave packet. We focus on the transition between two electronic states and show how transition probabilities as a function of internal nuclear positions can be obtained. Also, a pulsed electron beam can be used to control the transition probabilities to different electronic levels. We demonstrate the validity of the theory by comparing to a direct numerical solution of Schrödingerʹs equation in a model system.