Dissociative charge transfer of H/+/ ions with H2 and D2 molecules from 78 to 330 K

The dissociative charge transfer of He(+) ions with H2 and D2 molecules has been studied using a temperature-variable drift-tube mass-spectrometer apparatus over the temperature range 78 to 330 K. The binary rate coefficients are small at 300 K, approximately 10 to the -13th to 10 to the -14th cu cm/sec, and only slightly larger at 78 K. Termolecular contributions to the binary rate coefficients are found to be small at 330 K but increase substantially with decreasing temperature. Two-body charge transfer with D2 is found to be slower than with H2 by a factor of 10, in good agreement with recent theoretical predictions, although the measured values of the rate coefficients are larger by a factor of about 4 than the predicted values.