Vibrationally enhanced inelastic atom–molecule cross sections at very low energies.

Autor: Keller, H. M., Külz, M., Setzkorn, R., He, G. Z., Bergmann, K., Rubahn, H.-G.
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Chemical Physics; 6/15/1992, Vol. 96 Issue 12, p8819, 11p
Abstrakt: Rate constants for inelastic processes in Na2 (v,j)–Ne, Ar, Na collisions are determined at a mean collision energy of the order of 1 meV in a supersonic seeded beam arrangement. The initial vibrational state v and rotational state j is varied in the range 4≤v≤35 and 5≤j≤25. The Na2 molecules are excited by Franck–Condon pumping near the transition region to free molecular flow and the flux of molecules which survive in the level (v,j) is monitored far downstream behind a small aperture. It is shown that elastic processes do not contribute to the observed signal. The magnitude of the cross section for the sum of all inelastic processes is as large as several hundred Å2. It is found that the vibrational motion of the molecule, which carries an energy of up to 500 meV, strongly influences the collision dynamics. The rate constant increases with v by about 35% within the range of vibrational levels studied here. Some state-to-state rate constants are also reported. The experimental results are in good agreement with data from quasiclassical trajectory calculations on a semiempirical bond-distance-dependent potential surface. The observations can be rationalized by realizing that the long range attraction increases with vibrational excitation since the polarizability of the molecule increases. Furthermore, the vibrational excitation in combination with the relatively long interaction time due to the low collision energy enhances the probability for a change of the initial quantum state of the molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index