Dr. Clouthier is supported by a grant from The Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to study the high resolution spectra of small transient molecules and free radicals produced through high temperature decomposition in an expanding jet. The results of this work have a direct impact on many areas of applied research and engineering including energy conversion, fuel utilization, coal gasification, and chemical vapor deposition techniques used in the semiconductor industry. Dr. Clouthier has developed a new technique which he calls pyrolysis jet spectroscopy, in which precursor molecules, entrained in a high pressure stream of inert gas, are pyrolyzed just prior to expansion through a nozzle into a vacuum chamber. The short contact time and expansion cooling allow the observation of the rotationally cold spectra of even very short-lived and reactive species. He plans to apply this new technique to the study of several transient species including: dichlorocarbene, formyl cyanide, thioacetaldehyde, thioacetone, selenoformaldehyde, and a series of alkyl metal compounds thought to be important intermediates in the chemical vapor deposition process used by semiconductor industries.
