Abstract
The ion pair formation reaction Cs+UF6→Cs++UF6 − and the atom abstraction reaction Cs+UF6→CsF+UF5 have been studied over the relative kinetic energy range 0.2 to 1.3 eV using a seeded nozzle source for UF6. The cross section for ion pair formation was found to increase with the kinetic energy and a value of 32 Å2 was observed at 1.3 eV. Unlike previous results at thermal energies, the angular distributions of CsF provided no indication of complex formation but were found to be peaked in the backward (c.m.) direction. Estimates of the abstraction reaction cross section show it to be the dominant channel in this energy range.