title: Corroboration of theory for H + D2 --> D + HD (v' = 3, j' = 0) reactive scattering dynamics.
abstract: The differential cross section (DCS) for the reaction H + D2 --> D + HD (v' = 3, j' = 0) exhibits particularly rich dynamics; in addition to the expected direct recoil backscattering feature, a surprising time-delayed forward scattering feature appears that has been attributed to glory scattering arising from nearside and farside interference. This fact leads to a complex DCS that depends strongly on the collision energy. Its accurate calculation requires a fully quantum mechanical (QM) treatment. We report improved measurements of this DCS over the collision energy range 1.55 < or = E(coll) < or = 1.82 eV. Previous measurements using the core extraction method, while generally in agreement with theory, lacked sufficient resolution to capture all of the noteworthy behavior of the system; in the present work, we use ion imaging to observe many previously unresolved features of the DCS, particularly in the forward-scattered region. Agreement with QM calculations is found at all collision energies, reconciling an earlier discrepancy between experiment and theory near E(coll) = 1.54 eV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5080, USA.
authors.forename: Noah T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Jianyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Zare