Dynamics of the reactions of aluminium atoms studied with pulsed crossed supersonic molecular beams

Abstract

The reactive collisions of aluminium atoms with O₂, CO₂ and SO₂ have been studied with crossed pulsed supersonic molecular beams. Aluminium atoms were obtained from vaporization of an aluminium rod, using an excimer laser. They were probed, together with the product AlO, by laser-induced fluorescence. Collision energy ranges were 0.08–0.49 eV for Al + O₂, 0.14–0.53 eV for Al + CO₂ and 0.30–1.19 eV for Al + SO₂. The variation of AlO rovibrational distributions and reactive cross-sections with collision energy has been determined for each reaction. The value D₀°(AlO)= 5.26 ± 0.03 eV has been found for the AlO dissociation energy.