Low-energy charge transfer betweenC5+and atomic hydrogen

Abstract

Charge transfer with carbon ions has been identified as important in both magnetic fusion plasma devices and, more recently, in solar wind interactions with comets, planets, or neutrals in the heliosphere. A merged-beams technique is used to measure the absolute total charge-transfer cross section for ${\mathrm{C}}^{5+}$ and atomic H over four orders of magnitude in collision energy, from 12 000 to 0.64 eV/u. The present measurements are compared with previous measurements using an atomic hydrogen target and benchmark available classical trajectory Monte Carlo and molecular-orbital close-coupling calculations. An observed increasing cross section below 10 eV/u is attributed to trajectory effects due to the ion-induced dipole attraction between reactants.