Storage-ring study of the mutual neutralization of N+ with O−

The mutual neutralization of hydronium and hydroxide

“…For nominal collision energies of a few tens of milli–electron volts, the measured yields fell below the power law. The red curve shows the expected effect of a fitted ~80-meV instrumental collision energy spread, in agreement with earlier DESIREE studies ( 32 – 34 , 63 ). The strong dependence on collision energy suppressed the relative contribution from outside the drift tube region, in which the collision energy was ~30 eV.…”

“…In the case of molecular ions, in addition to the collision energy, such detailed studies also require control of the ion’s internal excitation. This effect can be achieved in the recently developed cryogenic ion storage devices ( 32 , 33 , 41 – 48 ). In particular, the double electrostatic storage ring experiment DESIREE allows internally hot ions to relax to temperatures close to the ambient 13 K environment while circulating in the ring ( 43 , 49 ).…”

“…In particular, the double electrostatic storage ring experiment DESIREE allows internally hot ions to relax to temperatures close to the ambient 13 K environment while circulating in the ring ( 43 , 49 ). A common section of the two rings allows merging beams of cations and anions at low center-of-mass (CM) energy to provide detailed information about the MN mechanism by 3D imaging of coincident MN products ( 32 – 34 ).…”

Simultaneous electrostatic trapping of merged cation & anion beams

“…[39][40][41][42][43][44][45] In particular, mutual neutralization reactions between cationic and anionic atoms have been extensively studied in recent years. 41,43,[46][47][48][49] The extension to molecular species requires careful control of the initial internalexcitation of the molecular ions. Slow ions can be cooled by collisions with a cold buffer gas, 50 where care must be taken to avoid heating in the process of acceleration.…”