Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Physical Review Letters
Publication Date
Page Number
223201
Volume
98
Issue
22
Abstract
We report the first observation of almost exclusive three-body breakup in the dissociative recombination of a covalent triatomic molecular ion O<sub>3</sub><sup>+</sup>. The three-body channel, constituting about 94% of the total reactivity, has been investigated in detail. The atomic fragments are formed in only the first two electronic states, <sup>3</sup>P and <sup>1</sup>D, while formation in the <sup>1</sup>S state has not been observed. The breakuip predominantly proceeds through dissociative states with linear geometry.
