Electron drift velocities in He and water mixtures: Measurements and an assessment of the water vapour cross-section sets

The drift velocity of electrons in mixtures of gaseous water and helium is measured over the range of reduced electric fields 0.1-300 Td using a pulsed-Townsend technique. Admixtures of 1% and 2% water to helium are found to produce negative differential conductivity (NDC), despite NDC being absent from the pure gases. The measured drift velocities are used as a further discriminative assessment on the accuracy and completeness of a recently proposed set of electron-water vapour cross-sections [K. F. Ness, R. E. Robson, M. J. Brunger, and R. D. White, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 024318 (2012)]. A refinement of the momentum transfer cross-section for electron-water vapour scattering is presented, which ensures self-consistency with the measured drift velocities in mixtures with helium to within approximately 5% over the range of reduced fields considered.