Vibrational Distribution of N2+B 2Σ Products from Ne+–N2 Collisions

A crossed ion beam‐molecular beam apparatus has been used to study light emitted from radiative transitions of ${\mathrm{N}}_2^{+}{\mathrm{B\hspace{0.17em}}}^2\Sigma$ products formed in reactions of Ne⁺ with N₂. The cross section for this reaction has been measured for collisions of 12 to 450 eV Ne⁺ ions having well defined kinetic energies. Vibrational population distributions, determined from spectroscopic analysis of light emitted by the excited reaction products, were intermediate between those predicted by an application of the Franck‐Condon principle and those computed using the statistical phase‐space model for ion‐molecule interactions.