N (²P) production in electron-N₂collisions

Abstract

A unique detector which is selectively sensitive to low energy metastable atoms, has been used to study the production of ground state N (2P) atoms following collisions of low energy (0–200 eV) electrons with molecular nitrogen. Time-of-flight techniques have revealed the existence of at least two distinct mechanisms yielding this dissociation product. Released kinetic energies in the dissociation have allowed positioning of the parent molecular states in the Franck–Condon region. This, together with excitation probability curves, has allowed probable parent states, such as B′ b′ and C′ 3Πu, to be identified making use of recent theoretical calculations. Both direct and pre-dissociation processes are shown to be involved.

Metastable fragment production in electron–methanol collisions

“…The experimental apparatus has been illustrated and discussed in detail in earlier publications [27,28] so only a brief overview is included here. A crossed electron-molecular beam set-up was used to produce collision fragments.…”