Polarizations of the Balmer-αand -βlines produced by dissociative collisions ofH2+with the rare gases

The polarizations of the Balmer-$\alpha$ and -$\beta$ lines produced by dissociative collisions of ${\mathrm{H}}_2^{+}$ have been measured at energies from 0.1 to 10 keV for a helium target and from 0.1 to 3 keV for argon and krypton targets. The Balmer-α line exhibits almost zero polarization in all these experiments. The Balmer-$\beta$ line, however, has a maximum polarization near 13% for the helium target and lower maxima, 6.0% and 2.5%, for argon and krypton targets. The relationship of these results to selective excitation of the ${\mathrm{H}}_2^{+}$ molecule and to the angular distributions of the dissociation products is discussed.