Rotational cooling of aniline in axis-symmetric and planar pulsed supersonic expansions

Abstract
Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) has been used to measure rotational temperatures, TR, of the aniline molecule in axis-symmetric and planar pulsed supersonic expansions of He, Ne, and Ar. The rotational contours of the O–O band of the 1B21A1 transition of aniline were measured by LIF and were fitted by computer-simulated rotational contours, resulting in the determination of TR. For axis-symmetric jets expanded from a 0.06 cm nozzle at stagnation pressures p = 100–2300 Torr, we find TR to vary from 15 ± 2 K to 2.2 ± 0.2 K. The degree of rotational cooling increases in the order of [Formula: see text]. The pressure dependence of [Formula: see text] for Ar (in the range p = 100–1000 Torr) and [Formula: see text] for He (in the range p = 300–2300 Torr), manifesting the implications of the velocity slip effect. Evidence for extensive formation of van der Waals complexes in the aniline–Ar system at p ≥ 1000 Torr was inferred from the saturation of TR with increasing p in this range. In planar supersonic jets of Ar expanded from a 0.2 × 35 mm nozzle slit at p = 5–200 Torr, the rotational temperature varied in the range TR = 90 ± 10 K to 12 ± 2 K, exhibiting the dependence [Formula: see text] Additional diagnostic information on planar jets was obtained for the dependence of the rotational temperature on the distance from the nozzle slit.