Photoexcitation of reaction complexes in the reaction K+NaCl→KCl+Na

Abstract

Emission at the Na D lines has been observed from the intersection of crossed molecular beams of K and NaCl irradiated by a cw dye laser at wavelengths from 590 and 735 nm. The three‐beam signal exhibits a threshold near 735 nm and is linearly dependent on the laser and molecular beam intensities. This three‐beam signal has been observed under experimental conditions in which all two‐beam signals are accounted for, and is attributed to the formation of Na* by photoexcitation of the KNaCl reaction complex. The effective two‐body cross section for the process is approximately 10⁻²¹ cm² in a laser field of 1.5 kW/cm².