Dissociative charge transfer from highly excited Na Rydberg atoms to vibrationally excited Na2 molecules

Abstract We report the observation of the vibrational dependence of dissociative charge transfer (DCT), Na2(X1Σg+, v″) + Na∗∗(nl) → Na− + Na + Na+, in a single Na/Na2 supersonic beam at low intrabeam collision energies (1.6 meV) using the STIRAP technique for selective vibrational excitation of Na2 in the electronic ground state and time-of-flight mass analysis of the ions. The efficiency of this process increases by about an order of magnitude in the range 13 ≤ v″ ≤ 22. Some perspectives are discussed regarding the implementation of a field-free ion-imaging technique for the detection of ions that will allow the direct determination of the kinetic energy distributions of product negative i…