Knowledge Bank

When $SF4$ or $SF6$ is subjected to Penning ionization and photoionization by excited neon atom and their resonance radiation (16.6-16.8 eV) and the products are rapidly frozen in an excess of solid neon, the resulting solid deposit shows prominent infrared absorptions which can be assigned to cation and anion products. Among the species identified through their infrared absorptions are $SF3+,SF5+,SF5+$, and $F2SO+$. The assignments are aided by consideration of the spectra of related system and by the results of ab initio calculations.