Lasers provide the chemist with the means of carrying out high resolution, high sensitivity experiments using most of the infrared spectrum. If laser instrumentation is combined into a laser central laboratory with a "lending library" arrangement the research of a group of top-notch investigators can be effectively enhanced. The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois will use this award recommended by the Chemical Instrumentation Program to aid in the acquisition of a series of lasers that will provide a continuous wave (cw), high resolution laser resource in the near ultraviolet, visible and mid-infrared spectral regions for a Shared Laser User Facility (SLUF). The acquisition will also serve to upgrade the pulsed laser capabilities of the Facility. The major areas of chemical research that will be enhanced include: 1) Dynamics of chemical reactions in the condensed phase. 2) High-resolution spectroscopy of mass-selected van der Waals and hydrogen-bonded complexes. 3) Dynamics of intramolecular and intermolecular vibrational relaxation in gases and liquids. 4) Photchemical kinetics of organic systems.
