The dissociative recombination and excitation of CO⁺

Abstract

Cross sections for the dissociative recombination and dissociative excitation of CO+ ions have been measured using the merged beam technique. The derived rate coefficient for the recombination is shown to be lower than previous measurements by a factor of three. Calculations of the vibrational state population of the reactant ions, based on Franck-Condon considerations, have been performed and are confirmed by the excitation observations.