PNNL

Abstract

The outcome of a collision between an ion and neutral species depends on the chemical and physical properties of the two reactants, their relative velocities, and the impact parameter of their trajectories. These include elastic and inelastic scattering of the colliding particles, charge transfer (including dissociative charge transfer), atom abstraction, complex formation and dissociation of the colliding ion. Each of these reactions may be characterized in terms of their energy-dependent rate coefficients, cross sections and reaction kinetics. A theoretical framework that emphasizes simple models and classical mechanics is presented for these processes. Collision processes are addressed in two categories of low-energy and high-energy collisions. Experiments under thermal or quasi-thermal conditions–swarms, drift tubes, chemical ionization and ion cyclotron resonance are strongly influenced by long-range forces and often involve collisions in which atom exchange and extensive energy exchange are common characteristics. High-energy collisions are typically impulsive, involve short-range intermolecular forces and are direct, fast processes.