Energy dependent stereodynamics of the Ne(3P2)+Ar reaction

The stereodynamics of the Ne(3P2)+Ar Penning and Associative ionization reactions have been studied using a crossed molecular beam apparatus. The experiment uses a curved magnetic hexapole to polarise the Ne(3P2) which is then oriented with a shaped magnetic field in the region where it intersects with a beam of Ar(1S). The ratios of Penning to associative ionization were recorded over a range of collision energies from 320 cm-1 to 500 cm-1 and the data was used to obtain $\Omega$ state dependent reactivities for the two reaction channels. These reactivities were found to compare favourably to those predicted in the theoretical work of Brumer et al.