Mutual Neutralization of NO plus with O-

We have studied the mutual neutralization reaction of vibronically cold NO+ with O- at a collision energy of approximate to 0.1 eV and under single-collision conditions. The reaction is completely dominated by production of three ground-state atomic fragments. We employ product-momentum analysis in the framework of a simple model, which assumes the anion acts only as an electron donor and the product neutral molecule acts as a free rotor, to conclude that the process occurs in a two-step mechanism via an intermediate Rydberg state of NO which subsequently fragments.