Penning ionization of the CO2 molecule by Ne (3 3P2,0) metastable atom

Penning ionization of the CO2 molecule by Ne* (3 3P2,0) metastable atoms is studied by electron spectroscopy. The recorded electron energy spectrum is dominated by an important vibrational progression that is decomposed over the nν1 and nν1+2ν3 vibrational series up to n=5. In addition, we observe a low-energy broad hump extending from 0.5 to 1.5 eV. The presence of this new feature is attributed to a non-van der Waals interaction between the colliding particles. Making the hypothesis that an ion–pair state channel opens during the collision, we are in a position to interpret the entire set of experimental results. We believe that the opening of this channel is responsible for the production of the CO2 molecule in an autoionized Tanaka–Ogawa Rydberg state.