Kinetic energies of recoil ions produced in 100-MeV collisions of Si⁸⁺ with CO₂ molecules

Abstract

Recoil ions produced in 100-MeV collisions of Si⁸⁺ with CO₂ have been studied by energy-discriminated mass spectrometry. Kinetic-energy distribution measurements of atomic recoil ions formed from very highly charged CO₂ molecular ions show that, whereas CO₂⁺ and CO₂²⁺ yield essentially a thermal distribution, atomic C and O ions possess large kinetic energies; O ions possess much larger kinetic energies than corresponding C ions, as expected from multiply charged, linear CO₂. The relatively large energies imparted to C ions are explained in terms of a sequential Coulomb explosion model.