Product rotational alignment in the excitation transfer reaction Ar(3P2)+N2→Ar+N2(C 3Πu)

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Abstract
The velocity dependence of the N2(C) rotational alignment from the title excitation transfer reaction was studied over the collision energy range 42–460 meV, using a beam‐gas time‐of‐flight method. The alignment was found to be positive, and to increase approximately linearly with energy: the extrapolated line has a large positive intercept, suggesting that the alignment persists down to zero energy. The present results, together with previous studies of this reaction, are consistent with a model in which the reaction occurs preferentially in the plane of rotation of the N2. It is suggested that this steric effect is due primarily to the orbital overlap requirements of the electron exchange mechanism. The polarization of the fluorescence from the dissociative excitation reactions of Ar*+CS2, Ar*+H2O, Kr*+CS2, and Xe*+BrCN was also measured and found to be zero at all velocities.