Abstract or Keywords
We have measured multiple differential cross sections for dissociative capture in collisions of 75-keV protons with D2. Data were analyzed for kinetic energy releases (KERs) ranging from 0 to 2 eV, where the dissociation is primarily caused by excitation of the nuclear motion to a vibrational continuum state. Pronounced signatures of two-center interference effects were observed. The data were compared to previously published cross sections for dissociative capture in 𝑝+H2 collisions, for which we reported a scattering angle dependent phase shift in the interference term. The D2 data reveal qualitative differences in the interference structure to the H2 case. Some aspects of the present results appear to support a hypothetical explanation which we offered earlier for the H2 data, but other aspects are not fully understood yet.