Metastable Dissociation of the Doubly Charged Carbon Monoxide Ion

The metastable dissociation of CO²⁺ ions has been studied. The appearance potentials of CO²⁺ $\text{(M\hspace{0.17em}/\hspace{0.17em}q\hspace{0.17em}=\hspace{0.17em}14)}$ and the O⁺ and C⁺ daughter products were found equal at 41.5 ± 0.4 eV. The kinetic‐energy release was found to be 5.75 ± 0.2 eV. The half‐life was 20 + 10 or − 5 μsec, and no CO²⁺ ions of half‐life longer than this were observed. It is concluded that the metastable dissociation of CO²⁺ proceeds via a tunneling mechanism consistent with previous suggestions in this regard.