Flowing-afterglow study of electron-ion recombination of para-H3(+) and ortho-H3(+) ions at temperatures from 60 K to 300 K

Michal Hejduk; Petr Dohnal; Peter Rubovič; Ábel Kálosi; Radek Plašil; Rainer Johnsen; Juraj Glosík

doi:10.1063/1.4927094

Flowing-afterglow study of electron-ion recombination of para-H3(+) and ortho-H3(+) ions at temperatures from 60 K to 300 K

J Chem Phys. 2015 Jul 28;143(4):044303. doi: 10.1063/1.4927094.

Authors

Michal Hejduk¹, Petr Dohnal¹, Peter Rubovič¹, Ábel Kálosi¹, Radek Plašil¹, Rainer Johnsen², Juraj Glosík¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surface and Plasma Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Prague 18000, Czech Republic.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.

PMID: 26233125
DOI: 10.1063/1.4927094

Abstract

Detailed measurements employing a combination of a cryogenic flowing afterglow with Langmuir probe (Cryo-FALP II) and a stationary afterglow with near-infrared absorption spectroscopy (SA-CRDS) show that binary electron recombination of para-H3(+) and ortho-H3(+) ions occurs with significantly different rate coefficients, (p)αbin and (o)αbin, especially at very low temperatures. The measurements cover temperatures from 60 K to 300 K. At the lowest temperature of 60 K, recombination of para-H3(+) is at least three times faster than that of ortho-H3(+) ((p)αbin=(1.8±0.4)×10(-7) cm(3) s(-1) vs. (o)αbin=(0-0 (+5))×10(-8) cm(3) s(-1)).