Alignment of the Angular Momenta of Products as a Probe of the Transition State of Chemical Reactions

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This grant in Experimental Physical Chemistry supports the research of Professor Richard Bersohn in the field of photodissociation dynamics. The importance of photodissociation dynamics is that it enables us to understand how and how fast chemicals react. The research described is innovative, well supported theoretically, and may change the way other researchers think about the evolution of chemical reactions. The research involves the reaction A+BC=AB+C, which will be studied by using aligned atoms A to study the extent to which the alignment of an atom A will be propagated into alignment of the angular momenta of the products AB and C and the anisotropy of their relative velocity. Examples of A, to be studies include Hg, Cs, H and F. Examples of BC include hydrogen gas, HCl and iodine gas. The degree to which the alignment of the reactants is reflected in the products is a measure of the symmetry of the transition state and the lifetime of the transition state complex. Alignment of reactant atoms (unequal distribution over magnetic sublevels) is accomplished by excitation with linearly polarized light. This elementary reaction will be studied as well as its inverse process in which the anisotropic relative velocity of the reactants produces alignment of the products.