Cross Sections of Certain Charge Transfer Reactions

Electronic absorption spectrum of CO+in an ion beam

“…Most significantly, however, the absorption lines recorded using CO were inverted relative to those obtained with H~ or air. This indicates that electronic excitation causes an increase in the cross section for charge exchange with H~ or air, but a decrease for CO. Ghosh and Sheridan [5] have shown that the cross section for charge exchange between CO+(X ~Y,+) and CO is very large. Our observation is probably due to the smaller transition moment and FranckCondon factor for ionization of CO to give electronically excited CO + in the charge exchange reaction.…”