The translational, rotational, and vibrational energy effects on the chemical reactivity of water cation H2O+(X 2B1) in the collision with deuterium molecule D2.

By employing the newly established vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser pulsed field ionization-photoion (PFI-PI) double quadrupole-double octopole ion guide apparatus, we have examined the translational, rotational, and vibrational energy effects on the chemical reactivity of water cation H2O(+)(X(2)B1) in the collision with deuterium molecule D2. The application of a novel electric-field pulsing scheme to the VUV laser PFI-PI ion source has enabled the preparation of a rovibrationally selected H2O(+)(X(2)B1; v1 (+)v2 (+)v3 (+); N(+) K a+Kc+) ion beam with not only high internal-state selectivity and high intensity but also high translational energy resolution. Despite the unfavorable Franck-Condon factors, we are able to prepare the excited vibrational states (v1 (+)v2 (+)v3 (+))=(100) and (020) along with the (000) ground vibrational state, for collisional studies, where v1 (+), v2 (+), and v3 (+) represent the symmetric stretching, bending, and asymmetric stretching modes of H2O(+)(X(2)B1). We show that a range of rotational levels from N(+) K a+Kc+ = 000 to 322, covering a rotational energy range of 0-200 cm(-1) of these vibrational states, can also be generated for absolute integral cross section (σ) measurements at center-of-mass collision energies (Ecms) from thermal energies to 10.00 eV. The Ecm dependences of the σ values are consistent with the prediction of the orbiting model, indicating that translational energy significantly hinders the chemical reactivity of H2O(+)(X(2)B1). Rotational enhancements are observed at Ecm < 0.30 eV for all the three vibrational states, (000), (100), and (020). While the σ values for (100) are found to be only slightly below those for (000), the σ values for (020) are lower than those for (000) and (100) by up to 20% at Ecm ≤ 0.20 eV, indicative of vibrational inhibition at low Ecm by excitation of the (020) mode. Rationalizations are proposed for the observed rotational enhancements and the bending vibrational inhibition. Rigorous theoretical calculations are needed to interpret the wealth of rovibrationally selected cross sections obtained in the present study.