State-to-state dynamics of elementary chemical reactions using Rydberg H-atom translational spectroscopy

Abstract

In this review, a few examples of state-to-state dynamics studies of both unimolecular and bimolecular reactions using the H-atom Rydberg tagging TOF technique were presented. From the H2O photodissociation at 157 nm, a direction dissociation example is provided, while photodissociation of H2O at 121.6 has provided an excellent dynamical case of complicated, yet direct dissociation process through conical intersections. The studies of the O(1D) + H2 → OH + H reaction has also been reviewed here. A prototype example of state-to-state dynamics of pure insertion chemical reaction is provided. Effect of the reagent rotational excitation and the isotope effect on the dynamics of this reaction have also been investigated. The detailed mechanism for abstraction channel in this reaction has also been closely studied. The experimental investigations of the simplest chemical reaction, the H3 system, have also been described here. Through extensive collaborations between theory and experiment, the mechanism for forward scattering product at high collision energies for the H + HD reaction was clarified, which is attributed to a slow down mechanism on the top of a quantized barrier transition state. Oscillations in the product quantum state resolved different cross sections have also been observed in the H + D2 reaction, and were attributed to the interference of adiabatic transition state pathways from detailed theoretical analysis. The results reviewed here clearly show the significant advances we have made in the studies of the state-to-state molecular reaction dynamics.