Metastable Electronically Excited Atoms and Molecules: Excitation Transfer in Slow Collisions, Probed by Means of a Counter-Rotating Supersonic Jet.

摘要

A new class of molecule source , uniquely suited for spectroscopic study of energetic materials, has been designed and tested. This buffer gas cooled ablation source is used in combination with a Chirped Pulse millimeter Wave (CPmmW) spectrometer, which is capable of detecting polar molecular species transferred into the gas phase by laser ablation, laser initiated micro- detonation, laser vaporization, or reactions accompanying warming of a cryogenic matrix of an energetic material, such as a co-deposited redox combination. A factor of 100x improvement in molecule density per laser pulse relative to standard supersonic jet ablation sources has been demonstrated, in addition to a nearly factor of 10x reduction in Doppler width.