Recombination of HCO+ and DCO+ ions with electrons

Recombination of HCO+ and DCO+ ions with electrons was studied in afterglow plasma. The flowing afterglow with Langmuir probe (FALP) apparatus was used to measure the recombination rate coefficients and their temperature dependencies in the range 150-270 K. To obtain a recombination rate coefficient for a particular ion, the dependencies on partial pressures of gases used in the ion formation were measured. The variations of αHCO+(T) and αDCO+(T) seem to obey the power law: αHCO+(T) = (2.0 ± 0.6) × 10−7 (T/300)−1.3 cm3 s−1 and αDCO+(T) = (1.7 ± 0.5) × 10−7 (T/300)−1.1 cm3 s−1 over the studied temperature range.