Dissociation dynamics of transient anion formed via electron attachment to sulfur dioxide.

We report the molecular dynamics of dissociative electron attachment to sulfur dioxide (SO2) by measuring the momentum distribution of fragment anions using the velocity slice imaging technique in the electron energy range of 2-10 eV. The S- channel results from symmetric dissociation which exhibits competition between the stretch mode and bending mode of vibration in the excited parent anion. The asymmetric dissociation of parent anions leads to the production of O- and SO- channels where the corresponding neutral fragments are formed in their ground as well as excited electronic states. We also identify that internal excitation of SO- is responsible for its low yield at higher electron energies.

A time of flight mass spectrometer with field free interaction region for low energy charged particle-molecule collision studies.

A new design of a linear time of flight mass spectrometer (ToFMS) is implemented that gives nearly field-free interaction region without compromising on the mass resolution. The design addresses problems that would arise in a conventional Wiley-McLaren type of ToFMS: (i) field leakages into the charged particle-molecule interaction region from various components of the mass spectrometer, including that through the high transparency mesh used to obtain evenly distributed electric fields; (ii) complete collection and transportation of the ions produced in the interaction region to the detector, which is essential for high sensitivity and cross section measurements. This ToFMS works over a wide range of masses from H(+) to a few hundred Daltons and would be the most suitable for low energy charged particle-molecule interaction studies. Performance of the ToFMS has been tested by measuring the partial ionization cross sections for electron impact on CF(4).