Rotor accelerated molecular beams
- 1 January 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions 2: Molecular and Chemical Physics
- Vol. 74, 630-643
- https://doi.org/10.1039/f29787400630
Abstract
Ultra-high-speed rotors constructed from carbon fibre composite material have been employed to generate supersonic molecular beams travelling at velocities ⩽ 2 km s–1. Beams have been generated from molecules ranging in molecular weight from H2O to W(CO)6 and chemical activity from Ne to I2; peak fluxes are ∼1017 molecule steradian–1s–1 corresponding to ∼1010 molecule pulse–1. A kinetic model which describes all the observed beam characteristics has been developed; all the results can be understood by assuming that the molecules are fully accommodated at the advancing rotor surface and leave with a net velocity compounded from that of the rotor tip and the Maxwellian thermal velocity at the surface temperature. The potential utility of rotor accelerated beams is indicated; in some applications they offer advantages over conventional nozzle-beam sources, particularly when it is important for the beam to be composed of a single molecular species.Keywords
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