Optical measurements of molecular-ion fragmentation

The authors have previously made measurements in Lund, Sweden of the excitation functions of excited states in ionized carbon and nitrogen, following breakup of CN+ in a thin carbon foil. The results show the effect of a neighboring ion on the production of excited states is sensitive to the excitation energy. The measurements were made with very thin carbon foils and up to 6-MeV CN+ ion beams. During a visit of Indrek Martinson and Larry Curtis, the authors made further measurements on the light emitted following breakup of N2+ and CH/sub n/+ projectiles in very thin carbon foils at Dynamitron energies. The most interesting aspect of this work was the strong variation in the yields of hydrogen Lyman α light as functions both of carbon foil thickness, and of the number n of hydrogen atoms on the initial molecule. A preliminary model explaining these results is being developed