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Article
Collisionless Formation and Rovibronic Relaxation of CH and OH from the IR Multiphoton Photolysisof CH3OH
Journal of Chemical Physics (1978)
  • Stephen E. Bialkowski, Utah State University
  • William A. Guillory
Abstract

A CO2 TEA laser has been used to initiate the collisionless multiphotondissociation of CH3OH between 1000 and 10 mtorr. The appearance of OH(X2Πi) 50±20 nsec after the laser pulse, independent of initial CH3OH pressure (50–200 mtorr), suggests the primary dissociative channel CH3OH+n hν→CH3 +OH(X2Πi); although CH3 could not be correspondingly confirmed. The appearance of CH(X2Πr) 70±20 nsec after the OH(X) appearance, independent of initial CH3OH pressure (70–400 mtorr), suggests secondary collisionless dissociation. Initial rovibronic distributions of OH(X) and CH(X) were determined, as well as characteristic decay time constants. The observation of the relaxation of OH(X) over a 10 μsec time interval after radical onset, allowed the separate characterization of collisional rotational relaxation and translational diffusion.

Keywords
  • collisionless,
  • rovibronic,
  • CH,
  • OH,
  • multiphoton photolysis,
  • CH3OH
Disciplines
Publication Date
January 1, 1978
Publisher Statement
© 1978 American Institute of Physics Published by AIP article can be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jcp/68/8/10.1063/1.436239
Citation Information
Collisionless Formation and Rovibronic Relaxation of CH and OH from the IR Multiphoton Photolysis of CH3OH Stephen E. Bialkowski and William A. Guillory Journal of Chemical Physics 68 3339 1978