Recombination of D₃⁺ Ions in the Afterglow of a He-Ar- D₂ Plasma

We report measurements of the rate coefficient α for recombination of D₃⁺ with electrons in a He-Ar-D₂ plasma. The observed rate coefficient is dependent on the deuterium number density indicating that third-body assisted recombination is efficient and significantly contributes to recombination. When the deuterium number density is decreased to 7×10¹⁰cm^-3, the rate coefficient also decreases to α∼6×10^-9cm³s^-1. These data indicate that the binary dissociative recombination of D₃⁺ is very slow with α_DR<6×10^-9cm³s^-1. The observation of a deionization process proceeding via formation of D₅⁺ is also reported.