Branching ratio for Penning and associative ionization in collisions Ne*(3P2,0) with Kr at thermal energies

The Penning and associative cross sections for the collisions between metastable neon atoms and krypton have been measured as a function of the collision energy in the range 0.025–0.35 eV. The measurements have been performed in a crossed beam experiment, using the time-of-flight technique for the velocity selection and a quadrupole mass spectrometer for the mass analysis of the product ions. The data have been analyzed using a classical model and assuming semiempirical potential energy curves for the three possible states of the NeKr+ ion. The analysis indicates that in the high energy limit the ionization leads to the production of the NeKr+ ion in its ground state.