A LONG-LIVED TRIPLY CHARGED DIATOMIC ION, CS3+

A metastable, triply charged, diatomic molecular ion, CS3+, has been d iscovered in collisions of O- and Si- With CS2 at an impact energy of 40-70 keV. Concomitant configuration interaction calculations of poten tial energy curves and electron density distributions have been carrie d out which indicate that the lowest-energy 2SIGMA(g) state of this mo lecular ion is metastable for at least 3 mus. Predictions are made of the values of the kinetic energies released upon dissociation of the l owest-energy 2,4,6SIGMA(g) and 2,4PI(g) states of CS3+.