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Dissociative recombination of H{sub 2}{sup +}: Product state information and very large cross sections of vibrationally excited H{sub 2}{sup +}

Journal Article · · Physical Review A
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  1. Physics Department I, The Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6377 Manne Siegbahn Laboratory at Stockholm University, S-104 05 Stockholm (Sweden)
We report experiments on dissociative recombination (DR) of HD{sup +} and H{sub 2}{sup +}. Product state information has been obtained over a wide range of electron energies with a position sensitive detector consisting of a graded absorber in combination with a surface-barrier detector. At low electron energies ({lt}3 eV) hydrogen atoms are formed preferentially in highly excited states ({ital n}{gt}2); at high electron energies ({gt}12 eV) both hydrogen fragments are excited. The dissociative recombination rate of H{sub 2}{sup +} has been measured also as a function of storage time in the energy range of 0 eV to 20 eV. We show that the H{sub 2}{sup +} beam is still vibrationally excited after 20 s at our experimental conditions. The H{sub 2}{sup +} ions relax vibrationally through interaction with electrons in the electron cooler. Vibrationally excited levels ({ital v}{ge}5) have DR rates that exceed the DR rate of the lower vibrational levels by two orders of magnitude. The latter observation has important consequences for the interpretation of previous DR experiments on H{sub 2}{sup +}. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
OSTI ID:
401138
Journal Information:
Physical Review A, Journal Name: Physical Review A Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 54; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English