The Department of Chemistry will acquire two nitrogen lasers, a UV-Vis spectrophotometer and computing equipment for use in the upper division undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory. New experiments include laser-induced fluorescene spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetimes, using nitrogen and nitrogen-pumped dye lasers, flash photolysis and recombination of atoms, and stopped-flow kinetics. These experiments illustrate a range of phenomena and techniques in kinetics, and the use of modern, sensitive equipment. A laboratory data acquisition system based on a multi-tasking microcomputer will serve several of the new experiments as well as some already in operation. Since the laser experiments are not yet well described in the educational literature, the new experiments will be published.
