Open AccessLaboratory determination of the rate coefficient for three‐body recombination of oxygen atoms in nitrogen
Author(s) -
Pejaković Dušan A.,
Kalogerakis Konstantinos S.,
Copeland Richard A.,
Huestis David L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2007ja012694
Subject(s) - laser , atomic physics , nitrogen , photodissociation , oxygen , materials science , population , analytical chemistry (journal) , laser induced fluorescence , chemistry , optics , physics , photochemistry , environmental chemistry , demography , organic chemistry , sociology
A laser‐based measurement of the rate coefficient for O‐atom three‐body recombination at room temperature is reported. The experiment employs the pulsed output of a fluorine laser at 157.6 nm to achieve high degrees of photodissociation of molecular oxygen. In a high‐pressure (1 atm) background of N 2 , the produced oxygen atoms recombine in a timescale of several milliseconds. The O‐atom population is monitored by two‐photon laser‐induced fluorescence at 845 nm, using a second laser with output near 226 nm. The measured value of the rate coefficient is (2.7 ± 0.3) × 10 −33 cm 6 s −1 (1 σ uncertainty), a value a factor of 2 lower than that currently adopted by the atmospheric modeling community.