THE CHARGE-TRANSFER REACTION N2+ (X, V=0)+AR-]AR+ + N2 FROM THERMAL TO 20 EV CM

Guided-ion beam mass spectrometry is used to measure the charge-transfer reaction of N2+ to Ar from thermal to 20 eV c.m. under single-collision conditions. A flow-tube source, in which the nascent ions undergo approximately 100000 collisions, is used to produce a beam of N2+ ions, > 99.9% of which are in their ground electronic and vibrational state. The energy dependence of the reaction is interpreted to indicate that a low kinetic energies the reaction goes through a long-lived collision complex and through a direct mechanism at elevated energies.