Single-Source, Collinear Merged-Beam Experiment for the Study of Reactive Neutral-Neutral Collisions.

We present two methods for studying reactive collisions between two atomic or molecular species: a collinear merged-beam method in which two gas pulses from a single supersonic beam source are coalesced and an intrabeam-scattering technique in which a single gas pulse is used. Both approaches, which rely on the laser cooling and deceleration of a laser-coolable species inside a Zeeman slower, can be used for a wide range of scattering studies. Possible experimental implementations of the proposed methods are outlined for autoionizing collisions between helium atoms in the metastable 23S1 state and a second, atomic or molecular species. Using numerical trajectory calculations, we provide estimates of the expected on-axis detection efficiency, collision-energy range, and collision-energy resolution of the approaches. We have experimentally tested the feasibility of such an experiment by producing two gas pulses at very short time intervals, and the results of these measurements are also detailed.