Dielectronic recombination (DR) of xenonlike W20+ forming W19+ has been studied experimentally at a heavy-ion storage-ring. A merged-beams method has been employed for obtaining absolute rate coefficients for electron-ion recombination in the collision energy range 0-140 eV. The measured rate coefficient is dominated by strong DR resonances even at the lowest experimental energies. At plasma temperatures where the fractional abundance of W20+ is expected to peak in a fusion plasma, the experimentally derived plasma recombination rate coefficient is over a factor of 4 larger than the theoretically-calculated rate coefficient which is currently used in fusion plasma modeling. The largest part of this discrepancy stems most probably from the neglect in the theoretical calculations of DR associated with fine-structure excitations of the W20+([Kr] 4d10 4f8) ion core.Comment: 7 pagers, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

The cross section as well as the branching ratios for the dissociative recombination of ground-state CH ϩ ions with electrons have been measured using the heavy-ion storage-ring technique and two-dimensional fragment imaging. Although the absolute value of the cross section at thermal energies is found to be in very good agreement with the theory, several unpredicted narrow resonances are also present in the data. These structures are interpreted as due to an indirect recombination process via core-excited Rydberg states. The branching-ratio measurement shows that at low electron energy the 2 2 ⌸ state, producing carbon fragments C͑ 1 D͒, is the most important dissociative state, although transitions during the dissociation to other dissociative potential curves are also present. Anisotropy in the angular distribution of the dissociating fragments is visible for some of the final states. Dissociative recombination of ions in the metastable excited a 3 ⌸ state is also observed, and the lifetime as well as the excitation energy of this state are deduced from the imaging data.

In chemistry and biology, chirality, or handedness, refers to molecules that exist in two spatial configurations that are incongruent mirror images of one another. Almost all biologically active molecules are chiral, and the correct determination of their absolute configuration is essential for the understanding and the development of processes involving chiral molecules. Anomalous x-ray diffraction and vibrational optical activity measurements are broadly used to determine absolute configurations of solid or liquid samples. Determining absolute configurations of chiral molecules in the gas phase is still a formidable challenge. Here we demonstrate the determination of the absolute configuration of isotopically labeled (R,R)-2,3-dideuterooxirane by foil-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of individual molecules. Our technique provides unambiguous and direct access to the absolute configuration of small gas-phase species, including ions and molecular fragments.

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