Role of Collision Geometry in Reactivity

Richard N.斯坦福大学的Zare得到了化学结构、动力学和机制项目的一个奖项的支持，以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致的细节来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的状态到状态反应动力学，试图了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，试剂分子可以在由振动量子数v1、v2、v3等和转动角动量量子数J表示的特定转振能级中进行选择。然而，不选择转动角动量矢量J在量子化轴上的投影。 Zare和他的同事们致力于制备试剂，并通过将用于泵浦和探测分子状态的偏振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检测选定M状态中的反应产物，该激光脉冲引起足够大的分子跃迁斯塔克分裂，可以访问单个M状态。 他们的目标是以M态选择性的方式实现近100%的种群从较低水平转移到较高水平，这对于反应动力学研究来说将是第一次。Zare教授将继续担任一群不同的年轻科学家的导师，并将继续他在教育公众科学的重要性方面的广泛努力。在这方面，Zare教授作为世界电影节的主持人及其董事会成员的服务具有象征意义。WONDERFEST是湾区的科学庆典，每年吸引超过一千人来了解和讨论当前的科学主题。

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.