The dynamics of the reaction D2++N→ND++D

We report the results of a merged-beam study of the reaction D+2+N→ND++D over the range of relative kinetic energy from ∼0.005 to 10 eV. At low kinetic energies the reaction cross section is accurately proportional to the orbiting cross section calculated for the ion-induced dipole potential plus an experimentally estimated r−6 term. The reaction probability for the N(4Su) ground state is estimated to be at least 71% for low-energy orbiting collisions. The reaction mechanism is direct, with the ND+ product scattered preferentially forward with respect to the incident N atom velocity at initial kinetic energies as low as 0.031 eV. A deconvolution analysis of the measured product laboratory energy distributions shows a net conversion of internal to translational energy at initial kinetic energies less than 0.9 eV, and a net conversion of translational to internal energy at higher initial kinetic energies. We interpret the results in terms of the adiabatic electronic state correlations for NH+2 systems, taking into consideration previous work by Mahan and co-workers on the reaction N++H2→NH++H.