Translational spectroscopy of N+ produced by collision induced dissociation of N-2+ on He and Ar

Abstract

The translational energy is used to suggest the important transitions involved in the production of N+ in N-2(+) colliding with He and Ar at 3.0 and 4.0 keV. From the energy spectra, interesting structures can be observed. The laboratory energy (LE) distribution of N+ was transformed to the center of mass (c.m.) assuming the N+ is isotropically emitted in the c.m. frame. For both cases, the most probable energy was observed with nearly zero kinetic energy released (0.32 +/- 0.04 eV for the He target and 0.39 +/- 0.05 eV for the Ar target). The transition was associated with the electronic excitation of the C(2)Sigma(u)(+) state, which predissociates in the continuum of the (2)Pi(u) and (2)Sigma(u) states, in agreement with the recent results obtained by electron impact dissociation and with a new device which combines imaging and time-of-flight resolved coincidence techniques. It is seen that the N+ energy distribution for Ar has a wide secondary maxima, while for He, it is either slight or absent. This result is attributed to the dissociation of the D(2)Pi(g) state. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.