Energetics, spectroscopy and dissociation dynamics of bimolecular complexes of atmospheric importance. The Global Warming debate illustrates the importance of having a firm scientific underpinning to calculations of the atmosphere. It is important in calculations of atmospheric chemistry to have all pathways and species properly accounted for. It has recently emerged that intermolecular complexes may play a role in atmospheric chemistry. Of these, those involving water are very important beca ....Energetics, spectroscopy and dissociation dynamics of bimolecular complexes of atmospheric importance. The Global Warming debate illustrates the importance of having a firm scientific underpinning to calculations of the atmosphere. It is important in calculations of atmospheric chemistry to have all pathways and species properly accounted for. It has recently emerged that intermolecular complexes may play a role in atmospheric chemistry. Of these, those involving water are very important because of water's ability to form strong hydrogen bonds. This project will provide key experimental data on one of the most important complexes, the water-hydroxyl radical complex.Read moreRead less
Cross sections for electron scattering from molecules and radicals of technological and environmental relevance. We will use two state of the art crossed beam spectrometers to measure absolute differential and integral cross sections for low energy electron scattering from molecules and their molecular fragments (radicals). The species to be considered are those of significant industrial (e.g. C2F4, C4F8 and CF2) and environmental (e.g. CO2 and H2O) interest, with the cross sections we will mea ....Cross sections for electron scattering from molecules and radicals of technological and environmental relevance. We will use two state of the art crossed beam spectrometers to measure absolute differential and integral cross sections for low energy electron scattering from molecules and their molecular fragments (radicals). The species to be considered are those of significant industrial (e.g. C2F4, C4F8 and CF2) and environmental (e.g. CO2 and H2O) interest, with the cross sections we will measure being crucial to our modelling both the processes involved in plasma enhanced chemical vapour desposition of semiconductor devices and the spectral emission characteristics of planetary atmospheres. The modelling will be conducted self-consistently with our enhanced statistical equilibrium simulation code, which is unique to Australia.Read moreRead less
Inter- and Intra-molecular interactions probed by electron momentum spectroscopy. High-resolution electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS) will be used to study bonding (intra-molecular interactions) in complex oriented organic species. This will allow us, in conjunction with density functional theory calculations, to evaluate the basis sets and exchange-correlation (XC) functionals employed in those calculations, thereby potentially enabling quantum chemists to build more physically accurate XC-fu ....Inter- and Intra-molecular interactions probed by electron momentum spectroscopy. High-resolution electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS) will be used to study bonding (intra-molecular interactions) in complex oriented organic species. This will allow us, in conjunction with density functional theory calculations, to evaluate the basis sets and exchange-correlation (XC) functionals employed in those calculations, thereby potentially enabling quantum chemists to build more physically accurate XC-functionals and basis sets. As chemistry largely occurs in solution, the future will increasingly focus on solvated species. Consequently, we are also initiating an EMS study of the electronic wavefunctions of solvated species with our recently developed "clusters" EMS spectrometer. This will provide the first data on the electronic wavefunctions involved in inter-molecular interactions.Read moreRead less