Formation of Na3<\sub>+ by associative ionization in collisions of Na* and Na2(v")    
A.Ekers, O.Kaufmann, M.Keil, and K.Bergmann
Fachbereich Physik der Universitaet, 67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany
The vibrational dependence of the rate of Na3+ formation in collisions of Na(nl) 
and Na2 is studied. While no significant v" dependence is found for (nl)=(5s) 
and (4d), a marked change of the ion formation is observed for the processes Na(3d) + Na2(X1Sg+, v">25) and Na(3p) + Na2(A1Su+, v'>10). The total 
(electronic and vibrational) energy, at which the change in the two processes occurs is 
approximately the same. We speculate that the opening of a new eletronic channel 
is responsible for this observation.