Gas-phase reaction of Ba with N2O. I. Measurement of production efficiency of excited states

Abstract

Photon yields for the reaction of Ba with N2O are determined by observing chemiluminescence from flames in a rapid flow of buffer gas. The yield for BaO A−X photons is strongly dependent on inert-gas pressure and is measured to be 20% at pressures near 10 torr. Also at this pressure, the specific yield for production of BaO A-state molecules in a single vibrational level, v = 1, is found to have the surprisingly large value of 8%. The vibrational distribution of BaO A1Σ molecules in the flame is found to be a strong function of oxidizing reactant and buffer-gas pressure. A kinetic scheme accounting for gross features of the observations is presented.