State Selective Time-of-flight Measurements on Surface Reaction Products

The objective of this project is to study simultaneously all degrees of freedom of molecules, in particular hydrogen and deuterium, following an Eley-Rideal reaction. Hydrogen atoms produced in a highly effective source will be aimed at hydrogen (deuterium) precovered metal surfaces. The hydrogen molecules originating from the Eley-Rideal reaction are then analyzed in a REMPI spectrometer (resonance enhanced multi photon ionization). REMPI spectroscopy allows the state selective detection (rotation, vibration) of molecules via a resonant excitation and ionization process. In a specifically designed time-of-flight spectrometer the translational energy of the state selected hydrogen molecules can be measured. The main topics of this project are: Elucidation of the dynamics of Eley-Rideal reactions in general, determination of the energy partitioning into the degrees of freedom of the nascent molecule and into surface phonon excitation, Influence of the surface structure and of surface coadsorbates on the Eley-Rideal reaction products.