State-specific reactions and autoionization dynamics of Ar2+ produced by synchrotron radiation

The long-lived excited states of doubly charged rare gases can markedly affect their reactivity. In this paper we demonstrate the presence of strong state-specific effects in the charge exchange of Ar2+ (3P, 1D and 1S) with several neutral targets (He, Ne, Kr, Xe, D2, and CH4). State sensitive measurements have been performed by producing the different Ar2+ electronic states via tunable synchrotron radiation (Elettra-Trieste, Italy and SuperACO-Orsay, France). From the product ion yield data of charge transfer, state-selected total cross-sections have been deduced. Using the state-specific reactivity of Ar2+ towards different neutral targets, it has been possible to extract the photon-energy-dependent production branching of the three doubly charged states and to investigate the autoionization dynamics of neutral or singly charged Ar in the vicinity of the double ionization threshold.