Experimental aspects of two-body ion-ion collisions

Abstract

The review is primarily concerned with experimental aspects of two-body ion-ion collisions that have been studied with intersecting beams. After an account of experimental methods and techniques there are discussions of interactions between positive and negative ions leading to mutual neutralisation, detachment and association. This is followed by a review of collisions between positive ions which result in ionisation or charge transfer. The relevance of these processes to aeronomy, fusion, astrophysics and other topics is indicated and, wherever possible, comparisons are made between the results of experiment and theory.