Vibrational Relaxation of O3(v2) by O(3P)

Authors

Karen Castle, Bucknell UniversityFollow

Publication Date

2014

Description

Laboratory measurements of the rate coefficient for quenching of O₃(v₂) by ground state atomic oxygen, k_O(v₂), at room temperature are presented. k_O(v₂) is currently not well-known and is necessary for appropriate non-local thermodynamic equilibrium modeling of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. In this work, a 266-nm laser pulse photolyzes a small amount of O₃ in a slow-flowing gas mixture of O₃, Xe, and Ar. This process simultaneously produces atomic oxygen and increases the temperature of the gas mixture slightly, thereby increasing the population in the O₃(v₂) state. Transient diode laser absorption spectroscopy is used to monitor the populations of the O₃(v₂) and ground vibrational states as the system re-equilibrates. Relaxation rates are measured over a range of quencher concentrations to extract the rate coefficient of interest. The value of k_O(v₂) was determined to be (2.2 ± 0.5) x 10^-12 cm³ s^-1.

Journal

Journal of Physical Chemistry A

Volume

118

Issue

25

First Page

4548

Department

Chemistry

Link to Published Version

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp500224j

Recommended Citation

Castle, Karen. "Vibrational Relaxation of O3(v2) by O(3P)." Journal of Physical Chemistry A (2014) : 4548.