D + H2(v=1, J=1): Rovibronic state to rovibronic state reaction dynamics

The authors have studied the D + H2(v=1, J=1) → HD(v',J') + H reaction at ∼1.0 eV center-of-mass collision energy. The H2 is prepared in (v=1, J=1) by stimulated Raman pumping and the HD(v',J') distribution is measured by (2+1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI). Vibrational excitation of the H2 reagent results in substantial rotational excitation of the HD product. For HD(v'=1) the fraction of the available energy appearing as product rotation increases from gR = 0.17 for the D + H2(v=1, J thermal) unpumped reaction to gR = 0.34 for the D + H2(v=1, J=1) pumped reaction. They estimate that the reaction cross section into HD(v' = 1) is about 4 times larger for the pumped than the unpumped reaction