<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoTitle" style="margin-right:-.5in"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Seminar
on<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></span></p><p class="MsoTitle" style="margin-right:-.5in"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"> </span></font></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="letter-spacing: 2px; "><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Modern Optics and Spectroscopy</span></font></b></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-29.9pt"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Laser and Synchrotron Investigations of
Fundamental Combustion Chemistry</span></font></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-29.9pt"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></font></span><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Craig A. Taatjes</span></font></b><span style="letter-spacing: 1pt; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">,</span></font></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-29.9pt"><span style="letter-spacing: 1pt; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></font></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; ">Sandia National Laboratories,
Livermore</span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-29.9pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; ">Tuesday, April 5, 2011</span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-right:-29.9pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; ">12:00 – 1:00 p.m.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family: Arial; letter-spacing: 1pt; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"> </span></font></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128); font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; "> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The understanding of complex
networks of hydrocarbon reactions – for example, in combustion, tropospheric
oxidation of organic compounds, or the chemistry of extraterrestrial
atmospheres – demands knowledge not only of overall rate coefficients but of
the product branching fractions of key reactions. In many important systems,
for example in the chemistry leading to autoignition, the key elementary
reactions take place on multiple-well potential energy surfaces, and branching
fractions even of a single reaction may exhibit complicated pressure and
temperature dependences. A strategy that we have been pursuing at the
Combustion Research Facility is to combine detailed theoretical kinetics with
experimental measurements of product formation in laser-photolytically
initiated reactions. Experimental probes of these complex reactions employ
familiar spectroscopic methods such as laser absorption spectroscopy, as well
as new variants, in particular tunable synchrotron photoionization mass
spectrometry, which permits isomer-specific probing of product branching
fractions. In this seminar I will highlight recent advances in the application
of both laser and synchrotron photoionization methods to measurements of
product formation in hydrocarbon radical reactions relevant to combustion, and
specifically to reactions related to the autoignition behavior of potential
novel biofuels. I will further discuss the potential of synchrotron
photoionization to probe the kinetics of otherwise elusive intermediates that
are important to tropospheric and combustion chemistry. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Grier Room, MIT Bldg 34-401<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Refreshments served after the lecture</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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