Low divergence cold-wall oven for loading ion traps.

We present a compact cold-wall oven that is simple to build and align for loading miniature ion traps with calcium ions. The cold-wall oven, which is a metal-loaded capillary heated only through a portion of its length by the passage of a current, is described and characterized. An atomic beam with a low divergence of 14 mrad is produced.

Origin of Resonant Character in the Electron Impact Two-Body Neutral-Fragmentation of Methane.

The observation of peaks in the threshold region of two-body neutral fragmentation of methane molecule, i. e., CH →CH +H, by low energy electron (LEE) impact has been an enigma.

DEA dynamics of chlorine dioxide probed by velocity slice imaging.

We report, for the first time, the detailed dynamics of dissociative electron attachment to the atmospherically important chlorine dioxide (OClO) molecule exploring all the product anion channels. Below 2 eV, the production of vibrationally excited OCl dominates the DEA process whereas at electron energies greater than 2 eV, three-body dissociation is found to result in O and Cl production. We find that the internal energy of OCl and the kinetic energy of Cl are large enough for them to be relevant in the ozone-depleting catalytic cycle and more investigations on the reaction of these anions with ozone are necessary to completely understand the role of DEA to OClO in ozone depletion.

Formation of CO from formic acid through catalytic electron channel.

Low energy electrons can initiate and control chemical reactions through resonant attachment forming an electron-molecule compound state. Recently, it has been theoretically shown that free electrons can also act as catalysts in chemical reactions. We investigate this novel concept for the case of conversion of formic acid into CO.

Electron induced reactions in condensed mixtures of methane and ammonia.

We demonstrate the efficient formation of carbon-nitrogen bonds starting from CH and NH on a metal surface at cryogenic temperatures. Electrons in the energy range of 1-90 eV are used to initiate chemical reactions in mixed molecular films of CH and NH at ∼15 K, and the products are detected by performing temperature programmed desorption (TPD). Extensive dehydrogenation occurs at all energies giving the products CHNH and HCN in preference to CHNH.