The present paper reports on a merged-beam experiment on mutual neutralization between ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{D}}^{-}$. For this experiment, we have used the DESIREE ion-beams storage-ring facility. The reaction products are detected using a position- and time-sensitive detector, which ideally allows for determination of the population of each individual quantum state in the final atomic systems. Here, the $4s, 3d$, and $4p$ final states in Na are observed and in all cases the D atom is in its ground state $1s {}^{2}S$. The respective branching fractions of the states populated in Na are determined by fitting results from a Monte Carlo simulation of the experiment to the measured data. The center-of-mass collision energy is controlled using a set of biased drift tubes, and the branching fractions are measured for energies between 80 meV and 393 meV. The resulting branching fractions are found to agree qualitatively with the only available theoretical calculations for this particular system, which are based on a multichannel Landau-Zener approach using dynamic couplings determined with a linear combination of atomic orbitals model.

• Received 30 October 2020
• Accepted 12 February 2021
• Corrected 18 March 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.103.032814

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Published by the American Physical Society