A SCATTERING STUDY OF THE DEPENDENCE OF THE F+D(2)(J(I)=0,1,2)-]DF(V(F),J(F))+D REACTION ON THE INITIAL ROTATIONAL STATE

The F + D2(j(i) = 0, 1, 2) --> DF(upsilon(f), j(f)) + D reaction has been studies in a high-resolution crossed molecular beam experiment at a collision energy of 3.2 kcal/mol (140.0 meV) with an energy resolution of the time-of-flight spectra of typically 25 meV. The new results for the vibrationally resolved differential cross sections for the DF(upsilon(f) = 1, 2, 3, 4) products show the same general trends as an earlier experiment of Neumark et al., but some significant discrepancies are found. New evidence is presented that the vibrational product state distributions depend strongly on the initial rotational state of the D2 reagents. This effect reconciles some of the apparent discrepancies between our experiment and the earlier one.