The dynamics of the reaction D2++N→ND++D

We report the results of a merged-beam study of the reaction D+2+N→ND++D over the range of relative kinetic energy from approx.0.005 to 10 eV. At low kinetic energies the reaction cross section is accurately proportional to the orbiting cross section calculated for the ion-induced dipole potential plus an experimentally estimated r-6 term. The reaction probability for the N(4S/sub u/) ground state is estimated to be at least 71% for low-energy orbiting collisions. The reaction mechanism is direct, with the ND+ product scattered preferentially forward with respect to the incident N atom velocity at initial kinetic energies as low as 0.031 eV. A deconvolution analysis of the measured product laboratory energy distributions shows a net conversion of internal to translational energy at initial kinetic energies less than 0.9 eV, and a net conversion of translational to internal energy at higher initial kinetic energies. We interpret the results in terms of the adiabatic electronic state correlations for NH+2 systems, taking into consideration previous work by Mahan and co-workers on the reaction N++H2→NH++H