Low Energy Collisions: Removing the Thermal Averaging

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This project, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, represents a continuation of studies of non-reactive collisions at low energies. In this work, Drs. F. De Lucia and E. Herbst of the Ohio State University will explore the quantum characteristics of the collisions and the nature of quasi-bound collisional complexes that dominate their resonant structure. The low energies in question correspond to those of low temperatures, with rotational energies of typically a few cm-1. Important details that manifest themselves in the quantum regime, but are averaged out in experiments conducted at room temperature, become effective at very low temperatures. Whereas in the former work thermal averaging was still required to analyze the collisional effects, the research done in this project will remove this thermal averaging. The result is a so-called "collisional spectroscopy" with well-defined, experimentally observable resonances and a direct link both to normal, photon-based spectroscopy and the underlying collision parameters. In addition, the work will probe the potential energy surfaces of the transient van der Waals complexes formed in the collisions.The work done in this project, as well as in the former investigation, has relevance to several areas of contemporary physical chemistry, such as applications to astronomy, atmospheric science, chemical physics, and analytical chemistry. Graduate and undergraduate students, as well as postdoctoral research associates participate in this research. These students and postdoctorals acquire skills and gain valuable experience in a contemporary field of physical chemistry and are thereby prepared for advanced studies or employment in the scientific/technical sectors of our economy.