Electron impact dissociation of N2O and CO2 with single particle detection of O(1D2)

Abstract

Production of metastable O(1 D2) atoms following controlled electron impact on N2O and CO2 targets has been studied using a neon rare gas matrix detector operating at a temperature of <20K. A 100 eV pulsed electron beam was used in conjunction with time of flight (TOF) techniques to establish O-atom fragment kinetic energies. Probable dissociation channels are discussed.

Production of O(1D) following electron impact on CO2

“…The present report extends our earlier work [15] on the use of the Ne matrix for O( 1 D) detection. The electron-CO 2 production of O( 1 D) is investigated in detail.…”

“…The apparatus and technical details are very similar to those used in earlier work [14,15] so only a brief summary will be presented here. A two-chamber differentially pumped vacuum system houses the experiment (see [14] for a diagram of the apparatus).…”

“…Techniques which have been successful are usually laser or synchrotron based, where ionization of O( 1 D) is used as a precursor to mass spectroscopic detection of the resultant O + , [12,13]. Recently, Kedzierski et al [14,15], have demonstrated that it is possible to carry out single particle detection of both low-lying metastable oxygen species, O( 1 D) and O( 1 S), using rare gas matrix detectors. Here the metastable atom strikes a solid rare gas (Rg) matrix surface (e.g., Ne, Ar, Kr, or Xe) and forms an RgO* excimer which promptly radiates.…”

Detection of Metastable Atoms and Molecules using Rare Gas Matrices

“…This had first been noticed in early work where fluorescence following VUV irradiation of solid Ne containing traces of O 2 , N 2 O, or CO 2 was studied Maillard et al, 1982Maillard et al, , 1983Walker et al, 1981). This suggested that a Ne matrix could be used to detect 1 D atoms and this was in fact shown to be the case by Kedzierski et al (2010bKedzierski et al ( , 2013 using N 2 O and CO 2 targets. 1) in addition to the auroral green ( 1 S-1 D) feature.…”

“…22 displays a positive slope at the highest energies indicating that the excitation is dominated by optically allowed transitions in that energy region also (see Inokuti, 1971). From Kedzierski et al (2010b). 22 indicate an attempt to fit the observed data assuming that two optically allowed excitations are dominant.…”