Collisional Energy Transfer Measurements in Vibrationally Excited OH

氢原子与臭氧反应生成羟基 自由基（OH）在振动水平之间的v=5和9。 这 反应自然发生在介层的上部区域， 从振动产生强红外荧光 兴奋哦。 在这个海拔区域， 的发射取决于辐射和碰撞 振动激发OH的性质。 按照上一 授予PI开发新的基于激光的测量方法， 速率常数和弛豫途径，这些高度 振动激发的自由基 在这项支持的工作中， 新技术将被应用于确定OH速率 对大气层有重要意义的常数， 适用于条件所遇到的激发OH在 中间层 这些实验在技术上具有挑战性，但 实验技术已被证明是可行的， 可以提取重要的定量测量。

The reaction of hydrogen atoms with ozone generates hydroxyl radicals (OH) in vibrational levels between v=5 and 9. This reaction occurs naturally in the upper region of the mesophere, generating strong infrared flourescence from the vibrationally excited OH. In this altitude region, the intensity and spectrum of the emission depend on both the radiative and the collisional properties of the vibrationally excited OH. Under a previous grant the PI developed new laser-based methods of measuring the rate constants and relaxation pathways of these highly vibrationally excited radicals. In the work supported by this grant the new technique will be applied to determining OH rate constants that are at atmospheric importance and directly applicable to the conditions encountered by the excited OH in the mesosphere. These experiments are technically challenging, but the experimental technique has been shown to be feasible, and important quantitative measurements can be extracted.