Metastable states of diatomic hydrogen anions

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series Vol. 488; no. 1; pp. 12034 - 7
• Main Authors: Kreckel, Holger, Herwig, Philipp, Schwalm, Dirk, Čížek, M, Golser, Robin, Heber, Oded, Jordon-Thaden, Brandon, Wolf, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.01.2014
• Subjects: Angular momentum; Anions; Attachment; Explosions; Hydrogen; Mathematical models; Metastable state; Physics; Wave functions
• ISSN: 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/488/1/012034

Transient states of the negative hydrogen molecule H−2 have drawn attention as intermediate reaction complexes in important molecular reactions like associative detachment (AD: H− + H → H−2→ H−2 + e−) and dissociative attachment (DA: e− + H2 → H−2 → H + H−). Recently it has been shown that metastable states of hydrogen molecular anions exist that defy both auto detachment and spontaneous dissociation for several microseconds (in the case of H−2) and even milliseconds (in the case of D−2). Here we present Coulomb explosion measurements for H−2 and D−2 that provide detailed information on the shape of the molecular wave function. We compare these experimental results with calculated wave functions obtained using a nonlocal resonance model. Our measurements confirm the predicted stabilization of H−2 and D−2 in states of high angular momentum.