Superthermal component in an effusive beam of metastable krypton: Evidence of Kr2+ dissociative recombination.

Abstract

A superthermal component in a metastable ${\mathrm{Kr}}^{+}$ krypton beam produced in a Kr gas discharge has been observed and studied. Evidence is presented that this fast component is due to dissociative recombination of ${\mathrm{Kr}}_{2}^{+}$, and that the excited Kr direct products of this reaction are predominantly in the 5s states. An effective method (time of flight) for studying the product states of dissociative recombination reactions is thus demonstrated.