COUPLED WAVE-PACKETS STUDY OF THE DYNAMICS OF DISSOCIATIVE ION MOLECULE CHARGE-EXCHANGE

A coupled wave packet method is presented which allows us to treat exactly the vibrational and dissociative motions in nonadiabatic atom-molecule collisions, whose relative motion is described by a classical trajectory. It consists of a time propagation of the coupled vibrational wave functions defined over a grid. It is applied to the dissociative charge exchange (DCE) process in atom-molecule collisions. Model cases are investigated that put forward the basic characteristics of the DCE process. Analysis of the time evolution of the wave packets leads to a direct view of the collision dynamics and to an interpretation of the dissociation mechanisms. Striking phenomena are revealed, that were not predictable by the previously existing approximate methods.