This two-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in experimental physical chemistry involving Edward R. Grant of Purdue University and Helene Lefebvre-Brion and Christian Jungen of the University of Paris-Sud. The objective of this research is to integrate experiments with interpretive theoretical and computational efforts in laser spectroscopy. The Purdue research group will concentrate on experiments for producing rotational state data on radiationless decay processes in highly excited polyatomic molecules related to autoionization. The Paris group has developed the theory which describes the relevant molecular photoionization processes underlying these experiments. Preliminary results of this collaboration have stimulated theoretical activity on the coupling limit of electronic and rotational angular momentum. And initial theoretical results have suggest prototypes for study of cation-electronic scattering dynamics in polyatomic molecules. Dr. Grant brings to this collaboration his expertise as a spectroscopist and dynamicist. This is complemented by the theoretical expertise of the French investigators in modern molecular spectroscopy, in particular, the Multichannel Quantum Defect Theory which offers a universal framework for understanding intramolecular dynamics.
