Advances in Laser Chemistry

The laser as a radiation source with temporal and spatial coherence has made a tremendous impact in the different fields of science. As a result, new and exciting research has been developing allover the world. Laser spectro­ scopy shares a large fraction of this research, and in the last decade nu­ merous books and monographs have been published on this subject. Most of these books and monographs contain the work done in the physics community. Very few books represent the advances made in laser chemistry, a field that is flourishing and whose future is indeed very exciting. It was felt that a meeting that focused on the important questions being asked in the chemistry community, and on new and possible directions in laser chemistry, was needed. This three-day conference, held at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, on March 20-22, 1978, covered five important areas in laser chemistry: Laser-induced chemistry, picosecond processes and techniques, nonlinear optical spectroscopy and dephasing processes, multiphoton exci­ tation in molecules, and molecular dynamics by molecular beams.

Inhalt

I. Laser- Induced Chemistry.- Internal Energy Transfer in Isolated Molecules: Ergodic and Nonergodic Behavior.- Spectroscopy and Relaxation of Vibrationally Excited HCO Radicals.- Dye Laser-Induced Photochemistry.- Chemical Applications of Lasers.- A Direct Measure of the Partitioning of Electronic, Vibrational, Rotational, and Translational Energies in Unimolecular Processes.- Laser Synthetic Chemistry and Laser Photogeneration of Catalysis.- Vibrational Excitation in the Products of S-Tetrazine Photolysis.- Deuterium Enrichment by CW CO2 Laser-Induced Vibrational Photochemistry.- IR Photodissociation of Fluorinated Ethanes and Ethylenes: Collisional Effects in the Multiple Photon Absorption Process.- II. Picosecond Processes and Techniques.- Vibrational and Electronic Relaxation in Moderate Sized Systems.- Picosecond Emission Spectroscopy with An Ultraviolet Sensitive Streak Camera.- Picosecond Studies of Some Ultrafast Events in Bacterial Photosynthesis.- Advances in Subpicosecond Spectroscopic Techniques.- Picosecond Dynamics of the Formation of Charge Transfer States in 9,9?-Bianthryl.- Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Ultrashort-Lived States of Aromatic Compounds.- Picosecond Studies of Unimolecular Processes.- Picosecond Chromodynamics of Electrons in Fluids.- First Observation of the Formation Process of Squid Hypsorhodopsin by Picosecond Spectroscopy.- Picosecond Laser Studies of Stil bene Laser Dye.- III. Non-Linear Optical Spectroscopy and Dephasing Processes.- Theory of Optical Dephasing in Condensed Phases.- The Origin of Vibrational Dephasing in Liquids and Solids.- Thermal Lensing Spectroscopy in the Condensed Phase.- The Use of Monochromatically Excited Resonant Light Scattering as a Probe of Ultra Short T1 and T2 Type Relaxation Processes in Excited Electronic States.- Molecular Mechanisms for Dephasing: Toward a Unified Treatment of Gases, Solids, and Liquids.- Molecular Spectroscopic Aspects of the Third Order Susceptibility.- Coherent Anti-Stokes Resonance Raman Spectra of Highly Fluorescent Compounds.- Applications of Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy at NRL.- Absolute Fluorescence Yields by Thermal Blooming: Fluorescein and Cresyl Violet.- IV. Multiphoton Excitation in Molecules.- Energy Redistribution in Molecules in the Quasi-Periodic and Ergodic Regimes.- Crossed Laser and Molecular Beams Studies of Multiphoton Dissociation.- Multiphoton Ionization Spectroscopy of Polyatomic Molecules.- Two-Photon Spectroscopy by Elliptical Polarization State Alteration.- Doppler-Free Two-Photon Excitation of the Vacuum Ultraviolet Absorption Spectrum of CO.- The Two-Photon Spectroscopy of All-Trans Retinal and Related Polyenes.- Broadband Detection of Two-Photon Absorption by Intracavity Dye Laser Spectroscopy.- Multiphoton Dissociation of Molecules with Low Power CW Infrared Lasers.- Collisional Effects in Multiple Photon IR Absorption.- V. Molecular Dynamics by Molecular Beams.- Reaction Dynamics by Molecular Beams.- Structure and Dynamics of Van Der Waals Molecules.- Chemical Dynamics Investigated by Laser Probes.- Laser-Assisted Excitive Penning Ionization.- Photo-Induced Vibrational Predissociation of Van Der Waals Molecules.- Time Resolved Emission from Benzophenone in a Molecular Beam.- A Molecular Beam Study of the Selective Dissociation of SF6: The Influence of Laser Wavelength and Energy.- Time and Frequency Resolved Laser Studies on CS2 Discrete and Continuum Fluorescence.- High Resolution Spectra of Symmetric Molecules: Understanding Rotation and Permutation Dynamics.