Energy Transfer and Reaction of Excited Metal Atoms and Dimers

实验物理化学计划支持布雷肯里奇教授继续研究涉及激发金属原子和二聚体的能量转移和化学反应的细节。这项工作将有助于加强对碰撞动力学基本过程的一般理解。金属原子和二聚体正在使用脉冲激光汽化源产生。第二个激光产生被激发的金属，第三个激光用于探测与目标原子或分子碰撞作用后的反应或非弹性能量转移的产物。此外，布雷肯里奇正在研究受激原子和分子之间的能量转移和反应，这些原子最初束缚在范德华络合物中。在激光蒸发后，首先在超音速膨胀中形成络合物，在络合物中选择性地激发金属原子，并像在碰撞过程中一样检测到生成的产物。这种“半碰撞”实验通常可以用来对相互作用体系的初始分子几何构型、轨道排列和角动量提供独特的选择性。

The Experimental Physical Chemistry Program supports Professor Breckenridge in a continuing investigation of the details of energy transfer and chemical reaction involving excited metal atoms and dimers. This work will help contribute to an enhanced general understanding of fundamental processes in collision dynamics. Metal atoms and dimers are being generated using a pulsed laser vaporization source. A second laser produces the excited metal and a third laser is used to probe the products of reaction or inelastic energy transfer after collisional interaction with a target atom or molecule. In addition, Breckenridge is investigating energy transfer and reaction between excited atoms and molecules initially bound in a van der Waals complex. The complexes are first formed in a supersonic expansion following the laser vaporization, the metal atom is selectively excited within the complex, and the resultant products are detected as in the collisional process. This "half-collision" experiment can often be used to provide unique selectivity on the initial molecular geometries, orbital alignments, and angular momenta of interacting systems.