Reaction cross section and product ion time-of-flight measurements for collisions of N+ and N+2 with CO2 at suprathermal energies

Charge exchange and dissociative ionization cross sections are reported for N+–CO2 and N+2–CO2 collisions at center-of-mass energies between 2 and 40 eV. Product ion kinetic energies are measured using time-of-flight techniques. Energy resonance considerations based on CO2 ionization Franck–Condon factors predict charge exchange to be slow for both of these reaction pairs. The N+–CO2 charge exchange, however, exhibits a large cross section and proceeds about one order of magnitude faster than the N+2–CO2 charge exchange. The formation of CO+ in N+–CO2 collisions is reported, while no dissociative ionization products are observed in the N+2–CO2 system.