Inelastic Scattering of Ne+ by H2 and D2

Abstract

The reaction Ne⁺(H₂, H)NeH⁺ is notable as a simple exoergic ion‐molecule reaction which has a very small rate constant, less than 8×10⁻¹² cc/sec. We have studied the velocity vector distributions of Ne⁺ scattered nonreactively from H₂ and D₂ at a number of energies. There is no evidence for the occurrence of reactive or charge transfer collisions. The small angle (<90°) scattering is elastic, but there is large angle inelastic scattering of three types: vibrational and rotational excitation of hydrogen, collisional dissociation to ${\mathrm{Ne}}^{+}+\mathrm{H}+\mathrm{H},$ and electronic excitation of hydrogen to ${\mathrm{B\hspace{0.17em}}}^1{\Sigma }_u^{+}$ and perhaps other states. The results are consistent with conclusions drawn from a molecular orbital correlation diagram for the (Ne‐H₂)⁺ system.