Some aspects of chemical interaction of molecular beams

The special role of molecular beams in providing fundamental information on the dynamics of neutral reactive molecular collisions is discussed. An outline is given of the experimental techniques used for atomic and molecular beam formation, and product particle detection including state and energy analysis. Selected experiments are used (a) to show how angular distribution measurements give rise to reaction models and (b) to highlight the scope and versatility of the experimental techniques. The ability of theory to predict reaction behaviour is reviewed briefly. Finally, some new and promising techniques for probing reactions at a most fundamental level are presented. (author)