Vibrational relaxation of CO+(A 2Πi, v′=1) and CO+(B 2Σ+, v′=1) ions in the collision with CO molecules

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Abstract
The vibrationally selected CO+(A 2Πi, v′=0,1) and CO+(B 2Σ+, v′=0,1) ions were generated by the photoionization of CO using Ne and He resonance lamps, respectively. The quenching cross sections of the excited ions were found to be very large and exceed gas kinetic values in the B 2Σ+ state. In both excited states it has been observed that the vibrationally excited v′=1 ion relaxes to v′=0 level through the collision with the parent CO molecules. The branching ratio of quenching to relaxation in the v′=1 ions was explained by a cascading relaxation mechanism in which all the vibrational levels underlying the excited v′=1 level contribute to the energy transfer.