Low energy electron collision phenomena in HgBr2

Abstract

Cross sections for mercuric bromide (HgBr2) dissociative attachment and ionization have been measured using an electron beam experiment. The dominant products of these reactions, as identified by mass analysis, are Br− and HgBr+2. A complementary electron swarm experiment was used to determine the ion production coefficients in a variety of gas mixtures containing HgBr2. The measured ion production coefficients were found to be in excellent agreement with the attachment and ionization coefficients computed using the measured cross sections. Additionally, analysis of the variations in the measured HgBr2 ion production coefficients along with measured electron drift velocity variations is found to be consistent with the interpretation that vibrational excitation of HgBr2 is dominated by a resonance in the 3–5 eV electron energy range for which dissociative attachment is observed to occur.