We studied the mutual neutralization of Li+ and H- at effective collision energies of a few hundred meV, which corresponds to temperatures of around 2000 K, in the double ion storage ring DESIREE.We present a new approach to match beam velocities and a new general analysis method for non-fragmenting mutual neutralization at DESIREE.Our results show two features, which we could clearly assign to the product channel into the electronically   excited  3s state of neutral lithium and an unresolved combination of 3p and 3d final state contributions.Branching fractions into 3s are extracted for ten different collision energies via spectral binning and compared to several theoretical investigations and two previous measurements, which focused on the heavier isotope deuterium.We find a significant isotope effect, as theoretically predicted, but in contrast to previous experimental results. The branching fractions agree well with different theoretical approaches using non-empirical couplings and  best with a combination of ab initio potentials and Landau-Zener transition probabilities.

This thesis deals with experimental studies of electron transfer reactions between oppositely charged ions (mutual neutralisation). These were performed at the unique double electrostatic ion storage ring DESIREE at Stockholm University, which was put into full operation in 2017. In the first two published articles of this thesis, two atmospheric collision systems are treated, namely O+/O−  and N+/O−. The aim was to reproduce previous published results from a single-pass (non-stored) merged ion beams setup in UCLouvain (Belgium) and thus provide a measure of DESIREE’s capacity and resolution. In addition, the effects of metastable ions were investigated with the support of theoretical calculations. The third published paper of this thesis deals with collisions between I+ and I− (iodine ions), a process relevant to electric thrusters for new spacecraft. The results are compared with theoretical calculations in order to provide an understanding of how the reaction takes place. Preliminary results on electron transfer reactions between diatomic molecules and atoms are presented.