Deactivation of vibrationally excited SO2 by O(3P) atoms

Abstract
Laser‐induced infrared fluorescence has been used to measure collisional energy transfer rates of SO2 in the presence of O(3P) atoms. Deactivation of the ν1 and ν3 stretching modes is found to be rapid, with efficiencies 30–40 times the corresponding rare gas rates. Energy transfer between the ν1 and ν3 modes induced by O atoms is relatively inefficient compared to deactivation, in contrast to the effect observed for rare gas atoms.