Excitation of water molecules by electron impact with formation of OH-radicals in the A2Σ+ state

The excitation cross-sections of the OH-radical band A2Σ+ → X2 (v' = 0 → v'' = 0, v' = 1 → v'' = 1) were measured. OH-radicals were formed during dissociation of water molecules by electron impact in the conditions of crossing of supersonic molecular and electron beams in the energy range 10-120 eV. Measurements were conducted at temperatures of 50, 80 and 200 K. It was shown that the excitation function had a sharp maximum in the region of low energies (at 16 eV) and an extended plateau up to 120 eV. It is proved that there are two channels of molecule dissociation with formation OH (A2Σ+) through excitation of either the triplet b3A1 or the singlet B1A1 states of H2O molecules. The form of the excitation function essentially depends on the temperature of water vapours in the beam. With the decrease of the water molecule temperature the height of the plateau in the region 30-120 eV decreases in comparison with that of the peak at 16 eV. The absolute value of the excitation cross-section of the OH band at the temperature 50 K has been measured. It is equal to (1.6 ± 0.5) x 10-18 cm2 in the maximum at 16 eV. The ratio of cross-sections of bands 1-1 and 0-0 weakly depends on the energy of the exciting electron in the range 12-120 eV and is equal to 0.28 ± 0.05. The appearance threshold is equal to (9.1 ± 0.5) eV.