Low-energy collisions with atomic and molecular ions in a photocathode electron target

Abstract

Dielectronic recombination of highly charged atomic ions and dissociative recombination of molecular ions have been investigated using fast ion beams merged with cold intense electron beams (down to <1meV beam temperature) from a GaAs photocathode. For beryllium-like germanium ions (Ge28+) isolated fine structure Rydberg resonances (n = 9 and 14) were observed at <0.2eV revealing configuration interaction with triply excited resonances and appearing as candidates for deriving radiative shifts of the 2s2-2s2p(3P0) excitation energy. For hydrogen fluoride ions (HF+) dissociative recombination with the cold electrons, producing n = 2 hydrogen atoms, was seen to occur for specific excited initial rotational levels. These levels were identified by their fragment energies down to about 4meV and it is envisaged to measure these energies with sub-meV accuracy.