[MOS] April 5, 2011

[Zina M Queen]

Seminar on

 Modern Optics and Spectroscopy

Laser and Synchrotron Investigations of Fundamental Combustion Chemistry

Craig A. Taatjes,

Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

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.


Grier Room, MIT Bldg 34-401
Refreshments served after the lecture
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