MRI: Acquisition of a Nanosecond Laser System

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With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, the Department of Chemistry at Kalamazoo College will acquire a nanosecond laser system. The research activities will involve measurement of vector correlations in the photodissociation of volatile organometallic nitrosyls, especially the correlations between angular momentum and velocity and between the transition dipole and velocity. The results obtained in these experiments will reveal the role of Jahn-Teller distortions in excited organometallic nitrosyl compounds and may reveal the timescale for metal-NO dissociation. These results can be extended into understanding chemical vapor deposition and NO-metal interactions in biological systems. Student researchers at this primarily undergraduate institution will participate in these studies. A nanosecond laser provides ultrafast pulses of coherent visible or infrared light, which enables researchers to obtain important information about fast occurring chemical reactions. Its use may enable breakthroughs in our understanding of the properties of reactive and nonreactive molecules. These studies will have an impact in materials chemistry and biochemistry.