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Spectroscopy of Transient Species
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For the PGOPHER simulation program see http://pgopher.chm.bris.ac.uk.
Spectroscopy
provides a wide range of very powerful techniques for studying
molecules. Very detailed information about their structure and bonding
can be found from the analysis of spectra, and spectroscopy
is also the key to detecting molecules in a wide variety of
circumstances.
This includes monitoring processes in the atmosphere (such as the
breakdown of pollutants) and hostile or inaccessible environments such
as flames
and stars.
My research work concentrates on applying the very powerful
techniques provided by laser spectroscopy to a variety of molecules,
particularly transient ones.
I have recently developed a laser system that has a resolution more
than 10 times
better than conventional pulsed dye lasers (follow the OPO links for a description). Not only
does this provide clearer spectra, but it reveals important details
that other systems can't see. For example, the work on PF revealed the small splittings in spectra
arising from different orientations of the nuclei known as hyperfine
structure, which gives much more direct information on the bonding in
the molecule than other spectroscopic constants. The spectroscopy is
normally done in the low temperature environment of a molecular beam.
The experimental spectroscopy accompanied by modeling of the spectra. I have made the program I use for simulating rotational structure in many different types of spectra, PGOPHER, freely downloadable from http://pgopher.chm.bris.ac.uk. A simple version of the program for linear molecules can be run from http://pgopher.chm.bris.ac.uk. As well as research work, the program is also used in teaching undergraduates. Analysis of the spectra is also assisted by ab initio calculations; follow the C3 links for an example of work on determining a potential energy surface using a combination of experimental data and high level calculations.