Infrared-Emission Studies of Electronic-to-Vibrational Energy Transfer IV: Hg* + HF

Electronic-to-vibrational transfer has been observed for the process Hg* (6(3)P(1,0)) + HF(upsilon=0) ? Hg(6(1)S(0)) + HFdagger(upsilon=1-6). (The asterisk symbolizes electronic excitation, the dagger indicates vibrational excitation.) The observations were made by recording ir emission from HFdagger(v=1-6). A set of relative rate constants k(upsilon) were obtained from the observed stationary-state concentrations N(upsilon). The k(upsilon) decrease rapidly with increasing upsilon, up to upsilon = 6. From a comparison of the total HF emission intensity with total CO emission (due to Hg* + CO) a rough absolute cross section Q(E,V) ~ 5 A(2) was obtained for electronic-to-vibrational transfer in Hg* + HF collisions.