The dissociation of molecular iodine by metastable oxygen—II. Populations of reservoir states through laser excitation spectra

Abstract

The dissociation of molecular iodine by metastable oxygen has been studied through the determination of the population of iodine electronic states involved. It is shown that three main mechanisms must be considered as responsible for this dissociation. Two of these correspond to the consumption of two molecules of O 2 ( 1Δ g) per I 2 molecule, and the third one is a three-step process with the consumption of three O 2 ( 1Δ g) molecules per I 2. The measured consumption of O 2 ( 1Δ g) molecules per iodine molecule has been experimentally determined to be 2 ⩽ n ⩽ 6, and this inflated O 2 ( 1Δ g) consumption is explained by energy loss via vibrational relaxation in the ground state of iodine.