Ionisation in H⁺-He⁺collisions using an improved beam-pulsing technique for measuring the formation of He²⁺

Abstract

An improved beam-pulsing technique has been developed for an experiment with two intersecting charged-particle beams. The total cross sections sigma 2+ for He2+ formation from the combined processes H+He+ to H0+He2+ (charge transfer, cross section sigma c) and H++He+ to H++He2++e (ionisation, cross section sigma i) have been measured in the centre-of-mass energy range 17-100 keV. The cross sections sigma i for ionisation are determined by subtracting the authors' recently measured sigma c values from the cross sections sigma 2+. The data are compared with previous experimental and theoretical results.