Reactive scattering and electron detachment in collisions of halogen negative ions with isotopic hydrogen molecules

Total cross sections for reactive scattering and collisional electron detachment have been measured for collisions of F− and Cl− with H2, D2, and HD. The collision energy extends from below the energetic thresholds for the processes studied up to a laboratory energy of about 300 eV. Reactive scattering is found to be the dominant inelastic channel for the case of the F− projectile. Isotope effects are observed in all cross sections. Electron detachment of F− is found to occur by two distinct mechanisms. A striking difference in the reactive and detachment cross sections is observed when Cl− is substituted for F− in that the electron detachment cross section is generally larger than that for reactive scattering. As in the F− case, isotope effects are also present for the Cl− projectile. The isotope effects observed for electron detachment of Cl− suggest that detachment cannot be described by any unique mechanism.