Reaction dynamics of Si(3PJ)+O2-->SiO(X 1 Sigma+)+O studied by a crossed-beam laser-induced fluorescence technique

Oxidation reaction of the ground state Si atom was studied by using a crossed molecular beam technique at 13.0 kJ/mol of collision energy. The Si atomic beam was generated by laser vaporization and crossed with the oxygen molecular beam at right angle. Products at the crossing region were detected by the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The LIF of SiO(A 1 Pi-X 1 Sigma+) was used to determine the vibrational state distribution of the electronic ground state, SiO(X 1 Sigma+). The determined distribution was inverted with the maximum population at v"=4, and in good agreement with the recent quasiclassical trajectory calculation on the singlet potential energy surface. The agreement suggested that an abstraction mechanism is dominant at the collision energy studied here. One of the counterproducts, O(3PJ), was also observed by the vacuum ultraviolet LIF and the distribution of the spin-orbit levels were determined. The formation of O(3PJ) was consistent with the significant population of v"=7 and 8 states of SiO, which could be explained by the presence of the triplet product channel with higher exothermicity.