Role of Collision Geometry in Reactivity

斯坦福大学的Richard N. Zare获得了化学结构、动力学和机制项目的资助，致力于研究碰撞几何在化学反应中的作用。Zare教授和他的博士后和研究生同事将以最精细的细节研究基本化学反应是如何发生的。Zare教授和他的团队将继续研究基础化学系统中状态到状态的反应动力学，试图理解两个分子碰撞的精确几何形状如何决定这种相互作用的化学结果。通常情况下，试剂分子可以选择特定的旋转振动能级，由振动量子数v1、v2、v3等和旋转角动量量子数J表示，但不选择旋转角动量向量J在量子化轴上的投影。Zare和他的同事们通过将用于泵送和探测分子状态的极化辐射的方向性与来自同步非共振激光脉冲的强电场相结合，来制备试剂并检测选定M态的反应产物，该脉冲会引起足够大的分子跃迁斯塔克分裂，从而可以访问单个M态。他们的目标是以m -状态选择性的方式实现近100%的种群从较低水平到较高水平的转移，这对于反应动力学研究来说将是第一次。扎尔将继续作为一群不同的年轻科学家的导师，并将继续他在教育公众关于科学重要性方面的广泛努力。在这方面，Zare教授作为WONDERFEST的主持人和董事会成员的服务具有象征意义。WONDERFEST是旧金山湾区的科学庆祝活动，每年吸引超过一千人来了解和讨论当前的科学话题。

Richard N. Zare of Stanford University is supported by an award from the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms program to pursue studies of the role of collision geometry in chemical reactivity. Professor Zare and his postdoctoral and graduate student colleagues will examine with the most exquisite detail how elementary chemical reactions occur. Prof. Zare and his group will continue their studies of state-to-state reaction dynamics in fundamental chemical systems, seeking to understand how the precise geometry of the collision of two molecules determines the chemical outcome of this interaction. Normally, reagent molecules can be selected in particular rovibrational levels denoted by the vibrational quantum numbers v1, v2, v3, etc. and the rotational angular momentum quantum number J. However, no selection is made of the projection of the rotational angular momentum vector J on the quantization axis. Zare and his colleagues work to prepare reagents and to detect reaction products in selected M states by combining the directionality of polarized radiation for pumping and probing molecular states with the intense electric field from a synchronized nonresonant laser pulse which causes sufficiently large Stark splittings of molecular transitions that individual M states can be accessed. Their goal is to achieve nearly 100 percent transfer of population from a lower to an upper level in an M-state-selective manner, which for reaction dynamics studies would be a first.Prof. Zare will continue to serve as a mentor to a diverse group of young scientists, and will continue in his wide ranging efforts at educating the public about the importance of science. In this regard, Prof. Zare's service as a host of WONDERFEST and as a member of its board of directors is emblematic. WONDERFEST is a Bay Area celebration of science and attracts over one thousand people a year to learn about and debate upon current topics in science.