Chemiluminescence from the Ba (3P)+N2O→BaO(A 1+)+N2 reaction: Collision energy effects on the product rotational alignment and energy release

Abstract

Both fully dispersed unpolarized and polarized chemiluminescence spectra from the Ba (P3) + N2O reaction have been recorded under hyperthermal laser-ablated atomic beam-Maxwellian gas conditions at three specific average collision energies 〈 Ec 〉 in the range of 4.82-7.47 eV. A comprehensive analysis of the whole data series suggests that the A1+→X 1 + band system dominates the chemiluminescence. The polarization results revealed that the BaO (A 1 +) product rotational alignment is insensitive to its vibrational state ′ at 〈 Ec 〉 =4.82 eV but develops into an strong negative correlation between product rotational alignment and ′ at 7.47 eV. The results are interpreted in terms of a direct mechanism involving a short-range, partial electron transfer from Ba (P3) to N2O which is constrained by the duration of the collision, so that the reaction has a larger probability to occur when the collision time is larger than the time needed for N2O bending. The latter in turn determines that, at any given 〈 Ec 〉, collinear reactive intermediates are preferentially involved when the highest velocity components of the corresponding collision energy distributions are sampled. Moreover, the data at 4.82 eV suggest that a potential barrier to reaction which favors charge transfer to bent N2O at chiefly coplanar geometries is operative for most of the reactive trajectories that sample the lowest velocity components. Such a barrier would arise from the relevant ionic-covalent curve crossings occurring in the repulsive region of the covalent potential Ba (P3) N2O (1 +); from this crossing the BaO (A 1 +) product may be reached through mixings in the exit channel with potential energy surfaces leading most likely to the spin-allowed b Π3 and a 3 + products. The variation with increasing 〈 Ec 〉 of both the magnitude of the average BaO (A 1 +) rotational alignment and the BaO (A 1 +) rovibrational excitation, as obtained from spectral simulations of the unpolarized chemiluminescence spectra, consistently points to additional dynamic factors, most likely the development of induced repulsive energy release as the major responsible for the angular momentum and energy disposal at the two higher 〈 Ec 〉 studied. The results of a simplified version of the direct interaction with product repulsion-distributed as in photodissociation model do not agree with the observed average product rotational alignments, showing that a more realistic potential energy surface model will be necessary to explain the present results. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.