Initial Distribution of CO† from the Reaction O+CS→ CO†+S

The CS₂/O₂ cw chemical laser has been studied in a transverse flow system. From a determination of the temperature and the upper state J value for which maximum gain occurred, in several CO vibrational bands, an estimate of part of the initial vibrational distribution of CO^† from the reaction $$\mathrm{O}+\mathrm{CS}\to {\mathrm{CO}}^{†}+\mathrm{S}$$ was obtained. This distribution indicated that the ``most probable'' level of formation of newly born CO^† is $\text{v=12± 1}$ , which represents approximately 90% of the energy librated from the reaction.