Intermolecular potentials determination from scattering

Discussion We conclude that considerable advancement has been made in the understanding of the intermolecular potential of the rare gas pairs. Both the shape and the size parameters appear to be defined to within narrow limits. This development has been made possible by using the results of quite different fields which often provide complementary information for the different parts of the potential function. Specifically, bulk properties of dilute gases give mainly integral information on the potential. The area of the potential is probed by the vibrational levels of the molecule obtained from spectroscopy. Properties of the solid at low temperatures are mainly sensitive to the attractive well and to the minimum distance rm whereas specific scattering features determine very accurately specific parts of the potential, e.g. the rainbow structure determines the region near the inflection point (see Section III). 

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