Collision and quenching cross sections in the A 2Σ+ state of OH and OD

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Abstract
A pulsed dye laser has been used to excite OH and OD radicals to the A 2Σ+ state and the quenching and vibrational relaxation cross sections have been measured for several different buffer gasses. It was found that the quenching cross sections were reasonably constant within a given vibrational level and tended to increase at higher vibrational levels. The vibrational relaxation cross sections decreased for higher rotational states and were generally smaller for collisions in which V′ changes by two than for collisions where it changes by only one. Finally, the implications of these measurements to the detection of OH in the atmosphere are discussed.