Vibrational energy transfer in CO from 100 to 300 °K

The laser fluorescence method, whereby CO molecules are optically pumped from the vibrational level v=0 to the v=1 state by frequency-doubled pulses from a CO2 laser, has been used to determine vibrational energy transfer rate coefficients for CO. Rates for the V-V exchange processes CO(0)+N2(1)→CO(1)+N2(0) and CO(1)+CO(1) →CO(0)+CO(2), and for the deactivation of CO(1) by H2 have been measured in the range 100°K ≤ T ≤ 300°K. The probability of energy transfer from N2 to CO decreases slightly as T decreases in this range, while the probability of the CO–CO V-V process is approximately proportional to T−1. Rate coefficients were also measured at T =297°K for the deactivation of CO(1) by the polyatomic molecules CH4, C2H4, C2H6, HCOOH, CH3COOH, CH3CHO, CH3OH, C2H5OH, H2O, D2O, H2S, and C4H10.