First Observation of Four-Body Breakup in Electron Recombination: C2D5(+)

摘要

We report the first observation of four-body breakup in electron dissociative recombination of a molecular ion: C2D5+. In an ion storage ring experiment, the branching ratio for the process C2D5(+) + e -> C2D2 + D + D + D was determined to be 13%. This means that three covalent chemical bonds are broken as a result of the action of a single electron. This is the first time a four-body breakup of chemical bonds has been observed in a low-energy binary reaction.