Electron-impact dissociative excitation and ionization of N2D+

Abstract

Absolute cross sections for electron-impact dissociation of N${}_{2}$D${}^{+}$ producing N${}_{2}^{+}$, ND${}^{+}$, and N${}^{+}$ ion fragments were measured in the 5- to 100-eV range using a crossed electron-ion beams technique. In the 5- to 20-eV region, in which dissociative excitation (DE) is the principal contributing mechanism, N${}_{2}^{+}$ production dominates. The N${}_{2}^{+}$ + D dissociation channel shows a large resonant-like structure in the DE cross section, as observed previously in electron impact dissociation of triatomic dihydride species [M. Fogle, E. M. Bahati, M. E. Bannister, S. H. M. Deng, C. R. Vane, R. D. Thomas, and V. Zhaunerchyk, Phys. Rev. A 82, 042720 (2010)]. In the dissociative ionization (DI) region, 20- to 100-eV, N${}_{2}^{+}$, ND${}^{+}$, and N${}^{+}$ ion fragment production are comparable. The observance of the ND${}^{+}$ and N${}^{+}$ ion fragments indicate breaking of the $\mathrm{N}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{-}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{N}$ bond along certain dissociation channels.