Abstract
Experiments on the effect of Selective vibrational, translational and orientations excitation
of reactants in bimolecular reactions can give important insights into the microscopic
dynamics of elementary chemical reactions. The information obtained in such
experiments can be compared with the results of theoretical calculations of the reaction
dynamics based on ab initio potential energy surfaces and is also of basic interest to
improve the kinetic data used in detailed chemical kinetic modelling.Rotational and vibrational energy transfer between H2 and H0 has been studied
directly using Raman excitation combined with time resolved CARS spectroscopy. The
competition between reactive and inelastic channels was investigated for reactions of
atoms with vibrationally excited H2 and HCl molecules. Selective vibrational excitation
was achieved by using infrared laser or Raman-pumping. The reaction products were
detected by time resolved atomic line resonance absorption mass-spectrometry and
CARS-spectroscopy. In some cases information on the contributions of adiabatic and
non-adiabatic reactive pathways could be obtained. The reaction H +