Studies of Chemical Processes Using Rydberg Atoms

在化学学部物理化学项目的这个项目中，威廉·马什·赖斯大学化学系的f·巴里·邓宁教授和肯·a·史密斯教授将继续进行一系列关于电子-分子和离子-分子反应的研究。在目前的工作中，重点是高里德伯态原子参与的反应。讨论的具体问题是碰撞中间体的寿命及其通过与第三个碰撞伙伴相互作用的能量转移而实现的稳定。此外，里德伯原子将用于研究离子-离子碰撞中的能量传递，并产生偶极束缚负离子并研究其性质。里德伯原子（或分子）是一种系统，其中一个电子处于一个足够大的轨道上，因此整个系统类似于一个受激发的氢原子。随着激发的增加，电子进入越来越大的轨道，直到它与原子的其余部分分离，从而变成离子。离子参与的化学反应起着重要的作用，对反应动力学和动力学的充分理解需要对离子-离子、离子-分子和电子-分子碰撞过程有详细的了解。这里进行的研究就是为了获得这样的知识。

In this project in the Physical Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division, Professors F. Barry Dunning and Ken A. Smith of the Chemistry Department of William Marsh Rice University will engage in a continuing series of investigations of electron-molecule and ion-molecule reactions. In the present work the emphasis is on reactions in which atoms in high Rydberg states participate. Specific problems addressed are the lifetimes of collision intermediates and their stabilization through energy transfer via interactions with a third collision partner. In addition, Rydberg atoms will be used to study energy transfer in ion-ion collisions, and create dipole bound negative ions and investigate their properties. Rydberg atoms (or molecules) are systems in which an electron is in a sufficiently large orbit so that the whole system resembles that of an excited hydrogen atom. With increasing excitation the electron goes into increasingly larger orbits until it becomes free of the rest of the atom which thereby becomes an ion. Chemical reactions in which ions participate play a major role and a full understanding of the reaction kinetics and dynamics requires, among others, a detailed knowledge of the ion-ion, ion-molecule, and electron- molecule collision processes. The research conducted here is directed toward obtaining such knowledge.