Low energy crossed beam study of the reaction H+2+Ne→HNe++H

Abstract

We present a study of the title reaction over the relative translational energy range 0.87 to 4.05 eV. At all collision energies the products are formed with translational energy significantly in excess of the predictions of the spectator stripping model. Experiments performed with differing values of the reagent mean vibrational energy suggest that the high lying vibrational states of H⁺₂ preferentially yield highly internally excited HNe⁺ products. We discuss the role of a gradual approach to the potential surface barrier as a mechanism for yielding highly translationally excited HNe⁺ products.