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We report absolute experimental integral cross sections (ICSs) for electron impact excitation of bands of electronic-states in furfural, for incident electron energies in the range 20-250 eV. Wherever possible, those results are compared to corresponding excitation cross sections in the structurally similar species furan, as previously reported by da Costa et al. [Phys. Rev. A 85, 062706 (2012)] and Regeta and Allan [Phys. Rev. A 91, 012707 (2015)]. Generally, very good agreement is found. In addition, ICSs calculated with our independent atom model (IAM) with screening corrected additivity rule (SCAR) formalism, extended to account for interference (I) terms that arise due to the multi-centre nature of the scattering problem, are also reported. The sum of those ICSs gives the IAM-SCAR+I total cross section for electron-furfural scattering. Where possible, those calculated IAM-SCAR+I ICS results are compared against corresponding results from the present measurements with an acceptable level of accord being obtained. Similarly, but only for the band I and band II excited electronic states, we also present results from our Schwinger multichannel method with pseudopotentials calculations. Those results are found to be in good qualitative accord with the present experimental ICSs. Finally, with a view to assembling a complete cross section data base for furfural, some binary-encounter-Bethe-level total ionization cross sections for this collision system are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present experimental electron-energy loss spectra (EELS) that were measured at impact energies of 20 and 30 eV and at angles of 90° and 10°, respectively, with energy resolution ~70 meV. EELS for 250 eV incident electron energy over a range of angles between 3° and 50° have also been measured at a moderate energy resolution (~0.9 eV). The latter spectra were used to derive differential cross sections and generalised oscillator strengths (GOS) for the dipole-allowed electronic transitions, through normalization to data for elastic electron scattering from benzene. Theoretical calculations were performed using time-dependent density functional theory and single-excitation configuration interaction methods. These calculations were used to assign the experimentally measured spectra. Calculated optical oscillator strengths were also compared to those derived from the GOS data. This provides the first investigation of all singlet and triplet excited electronic states of phenol up to the first ionization potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]