Autodissociation of doubly charged water molecules

Journal Article · Sat Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.73.0· OSTI ID:20787038

Scully, S W. J.; Wyer, J A; Senthil, V; Shah, M B; Montenegro, E C ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)

The electron impact dissociative double-ionization cross sections for H{sub 2}O between 45 and 1500 eV have been measured using time of flight mass spectrometry. The energy dependence of the H{sup +}+OH{sup +} and H{sup +}+O{sup +} ion pair production cross sections indicate that Auger-like autoionization following a vacancy in the 2a{sub 1} molecular orbital is the main double ionization channel at high velocities. In contrast to expectation, these findings show that dissociation through the H{sub 2}O{sup 2+} precursor state is a significant process at high collision energies. Knowledge of this process is vital as it has a direct affect on the production of important molecular species, such as H{sub 2}, during water radiolysis. Branching ratios of the various fragments produced following both autoionization and double ionization have also been obtained.

• OSTI ID: 20787038
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 73, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.040701; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
AUGER EFFECT
AUTOIONIZATION
BRANCHING RATIO
CROSS SECTIONS
DISSOCIATION
ELECTRON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY DEPENDENCE
EV RANGE
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN IONS 1 PLUS
HYDROXIDES
ION PAIRS
MASS SPECTRA
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MOLECULAR ORBITAL METHOD
MOLECULES
OXYGEN IONS
PRECURSOR
RADIOLYSIS
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD
VACANCIES
VELOCITY
WATER