Collisional relaxation of vibrationally excited NO+(v) ions

Abstract

Vibrational quenching rate constants have been measured for NO⁺(v) ions in collision with 17 neutral molecules. The dependence of the quenching rate constants on collision energy have been determined from near thermal energy up to ∼ 1 eV in some of these cases. The experimental results can be satisfactorily interpreted using a model of complex formation followed by vibrational predissociation with a rate constant of the order of 10⁹–10¹⁰ s⁻¹.