Laser-Induced Chemical Processes

✍ Scribed by Harold W. Galbraith, Jay R. Ackerhalt (auth.), Jeffrey I. Steinfeld (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 282
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The possibility of initiating chemical reactions by high-intensity laser exci­ tation has captured the imagination of chemists and physicists as well as of industrial scientists and the scientifically informed public in general ever since the laser first became available. Initially, great hopes were held that laser-induced chemistry would revolutionize synthetic chemistry, making possible "bond-specific" or "mode-specific" reactions that were impos­ sible to achieve under thermal equilibrium conditions. Indeed, some of the early work in this area, typically employing high-power continuous-wave sources, was interpreted in just this way. With further investigation, however, a more conservative picture has emerged, with the laser taking its place as one of a number of available methods for initiation of high-energy chemical transformations. Unlike a number of these methods, such as flash photolysis, shock tubes, and electron-beam radiolysis, the laser is capable of a high degree of spatial and molecular localization of deposited energy, which in turn is reflected in such applications as isotope enrichment or localized surface treatments. The use of lasers to initiate chemical processes has led to the discovery of several distinctly new molecular phenomena, foremost among which is that of multiple-photon excitation and dissociation of polyatomic molecules. This research area has received the greatest attention thus far and forms the focus of the present volume.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xii
Vibrational Excitation in Polyatomic Molecules....Pages 1-44
Multiphoton Infrared Excitation and Reaction of Organic Compounds....Pages 45-164
Sinterable Powders from Laser-Driven Reactions....Pages 165-241
Laser-Induced Chemical Reactions: Survey of the Literature, 1965–1979....Pages 243-267
Back Matter....Pages 269-276

✦ Subjects

Characterization and Evaluation of Materials