Ionization and dissociative ionization of CO+ by electron impact

Absolute cross sections for CO2+, C2+ and O2+ formation from CO+ by electron impact have been measured in the energy range from below the respective ionization or dissociative ionization thresholds to approximately 2500 eV. The animated crossed-beams method has been employed. The cross sections at the maximum are found to be 1.45 x 10(-17), 3.4 x 10(-19) and 1.3 x 10(-19) cm(2), for these reactions respectively and the corresponding threshold energies are determined to be 27.0 +/- 0.5, 42.3 +/- 1 and 48.1 +/- 1 eV. From an energy analysis of the collected dissociation products (C2+ and O2+) the maximum centre-of-mass energy available is found to be 12.1 +/- 1 and 7.2 +/- 1 eV and the width of the Franck-Condon transition band available is found to be 2.5 +/- 1 and 5 +/- 1 eV, respectively.