The effect of N2O laser irradiation on the nitrous oxide–copper reaction

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Abstract
The effect of 10.8 μ radiation from a cw N2O laser on the gas–surface N2O–Cu reaction has been measured. The rate equations for energy transfer, optical excitation, and chemical reactions have been examined and, by adjusting the probability of the latter processes for reaction of ground state and vibrationally excited N2O, reasonable agreement with the experimental results is achieved. The probabilities of reaction were found to be 2×10−7 for the N2O(001) mode, and 3×10−11 for all remaining N2O modes. Although experimental results are not sufficiently accurate to specify these values precisely, they do demonstrate the type of information which can be gained from a detailed analysis of laser chemistry results.