SUPER DISSOCIATIVE RECOMBINATION

In the case of heavy inert gas and dimer ions the observed high recombination coefficient stems mainly from dissociative recombination being able to populate many Rydberg levels. Cluster ion recombination is at the opposite extreme. Energy considerations show that the neutral products of the dissociation must be in their ground states. The high recombination coefficient here stems mainly from the radiationless transition involved being of the fast single-electron type. Both types of recombination are facilitated by the potential gradient at the crossing being considerably less than for normal dissociative recombination.