Chemistry below 1 K
Event details
| Date | 31.10.2013 |
| Hour | 16:30 › 17:30 |
| Speaker | Prof. Andreas Osterwalder |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Until last year, no experimental data was available for chemical reaction rates below 7 K. Such low temperatures are important in astrochemistry, but also for an understanding of fundamental aspects of chemical dynamics like tunneling, scattering resonances, long-range forces, or steric effects. Crossed-beam experiments, the main tool to study gas-phase chemistry for the past decades, is difficult to extend to low temperatures. Newer approaches that involve the production of slow molecules thus far have not provided any results in reactive scattering.
We have developed a new technique that enables us to study molecular scattering in a temperature range from beyond 200 K to significantly below 1 K: merged neutral molecular beams. We use technologies developed for the deceleration of neutral molecules to bend two beams, without changing the forward velocity, such that they move along the same axis. Since the center-of-mass velocity of the molecules is irrelevant for the collision energy, this provides an elegant way to reach low temperatures with fast molecules.
This technique is a very powerful tool to study low-energy collisions between any pair of polar and paramagnetic particles, and it paves the way towards a quantitative understanding of interstellar chemistry as well as of many fundamental effects in chemistry in general.
In this talk I will introduce our experiment and show first results, namely the Ne*+ND3 Penning ionization which we have studied at temperatures in the range 0-250 K.
We have developed a new technique that enables us to study molecular scattering in a temperature range from beyond 200 K to significantly below 1 K: merged neutral molecular beams. We use technologies developed for the deceleration of neutral molecules to bend two beams, without changing the forward velocity, such that they move along the same axis. Since the center-of-mass velocity of the molecules is irrelevant for the collision energy, this provides an elegant way to reach low temperatures with fast molecules.
This technique is a very powerful tool to study low-energy collisions between any pair of polar and paramagnetic particles, and it paves the way towards a quantitative understanding of interstellar chemistry as well as of many fundamental effects in chemistry in general.
In this talk I will introduce our experiment and show first results, namely the Ne*+ND3 Penning ionization which we have studied at temperatures in the range 0-250 K.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Dr Frank van Mourik