Electron scattering from oriented holmium

Discrepancies among experiments and theory on electron scattering from oriented holmium are partially resolved. An estimate is presented which suggests that the distorted-wave Born-approximation orientation effect calculated by Wright is too large by about a factor of 2. Distorted-wave Born approximation calculations (made with a coupled-channel program) are presented which confirm this suggestion. They agree well with the Stanford data for orientation perpendicular to the scattering plane. The previous discrepancy for orientation along the recoil-momentum direction is reduced, but is not removed. The sensitivity of these results to the charge shape is examined although a fit to the data is not made. Results are given of a complete coupled-channel calculation for the first three nuclear states. Suggestions are made for future work, and cross sections and orientation effects for energy-resolved scattering from holmium at 200 MeV are given. (AIP)