Imaging chemical reactions — 3D velocity mapping

摘要

Visualising a collision between an atom or a molecule or a photodissociation(half-collision) of a molecule on a single particle and single quantum level islike watching the collision of billiard balls on a pool table: Molecular beamsor monoenergetic photodissociation products provide the colliding reactants atcontrolled velocity before the reaction products velocity is imaged directly withan elaborate camera system, where one should keep in mind that velocity is,in general, a three-dimensional (3D) vectorial property which combines scatteringangles and speed. If the processes under study have no cylindrical symmetry, thenonly this 3D product velocity vector contains the full information of theelementary process under study.