Investigation of the energy pooling reaction CO(a)+CO(a)/spl rarr/CO/sup +/+CO(X) in optically-excited laser applications

Summary form only given. Three processes related to the efficiency of CO ionization via vibrational up-pumping are the energy pooling reactions CO(a)+CO(a)/spl rarr/CO/sup +/+CO(X), CO(a)+CO(X,/spl nu/'/spl ges/27)/spl rarr/CO/sup +/+CO(X,/spl nu/") and CO(X,/spl nu/'/spl ges/27)+CO(X,/spl nu/'/spl ges/27)/spl rarr/CO/sup +/+CO(X,/spl nu/"). At present it is not clear which of these processes is the dominant pathway for the CO ionization. After completing modifications to the gas phase kinetics and energy transfer laboratory's rapidly pumped discharge-flow reactor that has been used to characterize the energy transfer reaction CO(a)+NO(X)/spl rarr/CO(X)+NO(A) and NO(B), we are going to investigate the afore-mentioned processes. First, with a CO(a) detection limit of /spl sim/10/sup 6/ molecules cm/sup -3/ we expect to be able to place an upper limit on the production of the CO/sup +/ in the energy pooling reaction CO(a)+CO(a). Second, time permitting we will investigate the magnitude of the collisional coupling between the CO(a) and CO(X) states using laser-pump probe techniques. Results and progress of this investigation will be presented.