OPTIMIZING INTERNAL EXCITATION OF H5O2-ION BEAM BY GLANCING COLLISIONS WITH ARGON - A MULTIPLE COLLISION ANALYSIS( IN A FAST)

Glancing collisions of H5O2+ in a fast ion beam with argon have been s hown to impart an average of 1 eV of internal energy to a large fracti on of the incident H5O2+ molecules (6.4%) without knocking them out of the beam. Collision-induced dissociation studies have been performed for attenuations of up to 95%. A multiple collision theory is applied to the parent attenuation and fragment appearance data providing a qua ntitative window on the internal excitation of H5O2+ parent ions. Pros pects for detecting infrared emission from molecular ions in this way are discussed.