Use of heavy-Rydberg ion-pair states to probe dissociative electron attachment

Electron transfer in collisions between Rydberg atoms and targets that attach free low-energy electrons can lead to the formation of heavy-Rydberg ion-pair states comprising a positive-negative ion pair that orbit each other at large separations weakly bound by their mutual electrostatic attraction. It is shown that measurements of the velocity distribution of the ion-pair states produced in such collisions provide a novel probe of the dynamics of dissociative electron attachment.