Product Pair-correlation by Crossed Molecular Beam and Time-sliced Ion Velocity Imaging Methods

A novel experimental technique has been developed to measure the attributes of product pair correlation of bimolecular reactions under the crossed molecular beam condition. The first system that we picked is F + CD4/CHD3 / CH4 reactions. By combining a crossed molecular beam method with a time-sliced ion velocity imaging technique，the product state-resolved pair-correlated differential cross sections were revealed directly from the measurements. Several facets of the product pair correlation have been explored. The dependence on the collisional energy has been elucidated. The pair-correlated angular distributions show strong dependences on the HF/DF vibrational quantum numbers，and weaker yet not negligible dependences on the methyl radical vibrational quantum numbers. For the F + CH4 reaction at collisional energies close to the reaction threshold，the first experimental evidences of a reactive resonance in a polyatomic reaction were discovered. The product pair-correlated information helps us to unravel the complexity of polyatomic reactions and offers the important link between A + BC type of reactions and more general polyatomic reactions.