AUGER ELECTRON-ION COINCIDENCE EXPERIMENT ON NITRIC-OXIDE MOLECULE EXCITED BY ELECTRON-IMPACT

The fragmentation of nitric oxide by electron impact is studied via Au ger electron-ion coincidence experiments. The kinetic energy releases of the different fragments have been measured in the 39-70 eV binding energy region of the dication. The experimental data confirm that the three lower lying states of NO2+ are bound states, while all the other states in the studied region are repulsive ones. Experimental evidenc e is provided that all the repulsive states up to 54 eV binding energy dissociate to the lowest dissociation limit and that dissociative cha nnels leading to the formation of N2+ and O2+ are populated at 62 eV b inding energy. The experimental results are compared with previous exp erimental data obtained with different techniques and with the more re cent theoretical predictions. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.