Dissociative recombination of N2+, O2+, and NO+:: Rate coefficients for ground state and vibrationally excited ions -: art. no. A03302

[1] We review recent advances in the study of the dissociative recombination of molecular ions with electrons with a primary emphasis on experimental studies. In particular, we focus on previous experimental measurements of recombination rates for N-2(+), O-2(+), and NO+ ions. In the context of this review, we present temperature dependent rate coefficients from recent merged beam studies of the dissociative recombination of N-2(+), O-2(+), and NO+ ions with electrons. Identifying underlying physical differences between the various experimental techniques enables a discussion of the effects of vibrational excitation on the dissociative recombination of these major ionospheric species of ions. For T < 1200 K, we conclude that the recombination rates for N-2(+), O-2(+), and NO+ ions in the ground electronic and vibrational states respectively are 2.2 x 10(-7) (T-e/300)(-0.39) cm(3) s(-1), 1.95 x 10(-7)(T-e/300)(-0.70) cm(3) s(-1), and (3.5 +/- 0.5) x 10(-7)(T-e/300)(-0.69) cm(3) s(-1). Vibrational excitation is shown to play a significant role in laboratory measurements of these recombination rates. For each of these species, vibrationally excited ions yielded a lower recombination rate than the ground state. We also discuss the recombination of these species of ions for T > 1200 K.