3-D IMAGING OF BINARY DISSOCIATION EVENTS INDUCED BY HEAVY-ION IMPACT

Dissociation of CO molecules induced by 96 MeV Ar ions is being studied by simultaneously measuring the times of flight and the positions of the dissociation product ions. The position information is obtained using optical methods, thus overcoming the pile-up problem associated with measurements in which the position is determined using microchannel plate detectors with resistive anodes. For each dissociation event the velocity components of both ions are determined and used to deduce the released kinetic energy and the angular distribution. Preliminary results are shown for the dissociation of CO2+ into C+ and O+.