Nascent rovibrational distribution of NO+(A(1)Pi) produced from charge-transfer reaction of He-2(+) with NO at thermal energy

The NO+(A (1)Pi-X (1)Sigma(+)) emission resulting from the He-2(+)/NO charg e-transfer reaction at thermal energy has been observed in a He flowing aft erglow. The vibrational and rotational distributions of NO+ (A) were determ ined from a spectral simulation. The average vibrational and rotational ene rgies deposited into NO+ (A) were determined to be 0.22 +/- 0.02 and 0.10 /- 0.1 eV, respectively. The vibrational population of NO+ (A) decreases ra pidly for upsilon' = 0-2 and becomes flat for upsilon' = 3,4, indicating th at the vibrational distribution is bimodal. The bimodal vibrational distrib ution was explained as due to either two different entrance channels or two different dynamics (Demkov or Landau-Zener type). The rotational distribut ions were expressed by single Boltzmann temperatures of 1170 +/- 100 K. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)01718-3].