Prof. Paul Burrow and Prof. Ken Jordan (Univ. of Pittsburgh) are supported by a grant from The Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to study the scattering of electrons off of negatively charged ions. Applications resulting from this research include the possible development of new gas lasers, atmospheric studies related to the ozone loss problem and the development of high voltage insulating materials. Burrow and Jordan will study temporary anion formation in hydrocarbon molecules in the gas phase. In the past they have used electron transmission spectroscopy to locate these states and determine the associated electron affinities. More recently they have been monitoring vibrational mode populations by examining the angular distribution of the ejected electrons. The new work focuses on the following issues: (1) The degree of distortion that an ion undergoes during its lifetime, (2) What are the selection rules for exciting various vibrational modes via a resonance? (3) Does the angular dependence of the resonant scattering process reflect the overall molecular symmetry or the local symmetry of the moiety to which the electron is temporarily attached? and (4) Can dissociative attachment be used as a probe of coupling between remote functional groups?
