A fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance study of two- and one-electron capture reactions between doubly charged rare gas ions and rare gas atoms

A Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometer has been used to study near thermal collision energy symmetric charge transfer reactions. The systems Xen+/Xe, Krn+/Kr and Arn+/Ar have been measured at ambient temperature, where n = 1, 2. In the interactions between doubly charged rare gas ions and their corresponding neutral gas atoms the double electron capture (DEC) has been observed to be more efficient than the single electron capture (SEC). From the measured overall rate coefficient of 3.4 × 10−10 cm3 s−1 and the branching ratio of 1.1 between the DEC reaction and the SEC reaction the rate coefficients for double and single electron transfer from Xe to Xe2+ have been calculated to be 1.8 × 10−10 cm3 s−1 and of 1.6 × 10−10 cm3 s−1. In the experiments with doubly charged krypton and doubly charged argon ions in their parent gases the symmetric double charge transfer is observed to be even more favored in comparison with the Xe2+/Xe system at near thermal collision energies.