Molecular Axis Orientation in Charge Transfer Reactions Determined with a Reaction Microscope

Based on the reaction microscope at the institute of modern physics, the reaction mechanism in molecular ion-atom collisions is investigated experimentally. The features of this system is illustrated by a kinematically complete experiment performed for the collision process.Using the so-called list-mode data recording technique and the coincidence measurement,the momentum vector of each fragment from the molecular ion were recorded event by event.The orientation of the molecular axis for H₂⁺ dissociation reactions could be determined for each event in the off-line analysis. The measured orientation of the molecular ion is believed the same as the one at the instance of collision under axial recoil approximation. The polar angle resolution of the molecular orientation of ±8o was obtained.