Gas-phase reaction of Ba with N2O. I. Measurement of production efficiency of excited states

Abstract

Photon yields for the reaction of Ba with N₂O are determined by observing chemiluminescence from flames in a rapid flow of buffer gas. The yield for BaO A−X photons is strongly dependent on inert‐gas pressure and is measured to be 20% at pressures near 10 torr. Also at this pressure, the specific yield for production of BaO A‐state molecules in a single vibrational level, v = 1, is found to have the surprisingly large value of 8%. The vibrational distribution of BaO A¹Σ molecules in the flame is found to be a strong function of oxidizing reactant and buffer‐gas pressure. A kinetic scheme accounting for gross features of the observations is presented.