Kinematics of charge transfer: Ar++H2

Product angular and velocity vector distributions have been measured in a crossed beam experiment for the charge transfer process Ar++H2→Ar+H2+ at relative collision energies of 0.13, 0.48, and 3.44 eV. Charge transfer was found to occur by two distinct mechanisms: (1) a simple electron-jump mechanism which preserves the quasirectilinear trajectories of the colliding species and which selectively produces H2+ in the vibrational state most nearly resonant with the reactant ion, and (2) an intimate-collision mechanism which results in large-angle scattering and which produces H2+ in a broad range of vibrational states.