Abstract
We report the first determination of the initial vibrational distribution in the OH product of the reaction between O(1 D 2) and H2. The measurement was made using a novel time-resolved Fourier transformspectroscopic technique which permits the observation of spectra on a microsecond time scale at a known time after the initiation of a reaction. The result is P(v\u2019=1:2:3:4)=0.29:0.32:0.25:0.13 suggesting that the reaction dynamics involve very large attractive energy release during reagent approach followed by an extremely short-lived interaction leading to products within a few vibrational periods.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye