The infrared photolysis of SO2

✍ Scribed by S.E. Bialkowski; W.A. Guillory

• Book ID: 103018572
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 166 KB
• Volume: 60
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(79)80604-1

✦ Synopsis

Visible luminescence observed from the IR photolysis of SO2 between 2 and 25 ton appears to be the result of the SO2 afterglow_ These results suggest the first possible IR photolysis of a triatomic molecule via collisional pumping.

We wish to report preliminary experiments which would appear indicate SO, dissociation under the influence of high power CO2 laser infrared radiation. The dissociation of triatornic molecules via infrared laser photolysis has, to date, not been observed and has been assumed to be highly improbable owing to a low density of vibrational states below 10000 cm-l and large vibrational anharmonicity El]. However, some theoretical treatments have shown that coherent processes may lead to molecular excitation in high vibrational levels despite vibrational anharmonicities and do not require a high density of states [2] _ This possibihty, or a SimUk%EOUS multiphoton process [3], appears to occur in the case of SO2.

In these experiments a Molectron T-250 CO2 laser was used to irradiate the SO2 gas samples 141. The laser delivered 20.4 J per pulse operating on the R(30) line of the 9.4 fi transition at 1084.62 cm-r _