Fundamental Studies of the Hydrogen-Atom Hydrogen-Molecule Exchange Reaction

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In this award, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms (CSDM-A) Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Zare of Stanford University and his graduate student and postdoc are investigating the dynamics of the H + H2 reaction by controlling the collision energies and by identifying the detailed states of the products. The most accurate full quantum mechanical and quasiclassical trajectory calculations can be done for this system to compare with experiments. This research may significantly deepen our understanding of this reaction, in particular, the geometric phase effect and other nonadiabatic effects, vector correlations, and the effects of a change in the potential surface in an intense infrared laser field. The knowledge obtained for this simple reaction may be applicable to understanding more complex reactions.Prof. Zare and his research group generates hydrogen atoms with sufficient kinetic energy to go above the well-defined conical intersection of the H3 system where the Born-Oppenheimer approximation is expected to break down, meaning the interactions take place on more than one potential energy surface. For another subproject, the potential energy surface is manipulated by using an intense off-resonant infrared laser field in an attempt to control the collision process. This may demonstrate experimentally the possibility of photon catalysis of a chemical reaction.