Ultraviolet emission in O+–H2 reactive scattering

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Abstract
Luminescence resulting from O+–H2 collisions at relative energies between 1.5 and 35 eV has been studied in order to identify internal energy states of product species; A→X transitions of OH and OH+ are observed. Metastable states of reactant O+ are shown to be responsible for the production of these excited species at low relative energies; ground state O+ ions may contribute to the OH+(A 3Π) yield when sufficient kinetic energy is available to surmount the energy barrier that probably exists in addition to the thermochemical endoergicity of the process. Ground state O+ does not appear to be a major factor in the formation of OH(A 2Σ+). These conclusions are consistent with the nature of the potential energy surfaces of H2O+ inferred from an electronic state correlation diagram.