A combined experimental and theoretical study of rotational energy transfer in collisions between NO(X 2Π1/2, v=3,J) and He, Ar and N2 at temperatures down to 7 K

Infrared-ultraviolet double resonance (IRUVDR) experiments have been implemented in the ultra-cold environment provided by a CRESU (Cinetique de Reaction en Ecoulement Supersonique Uniforme) apparatus. With this technique rate coefficients of two kinds have been measured fop rotational energy transfer in collisions between NO and He, Ar and N-2: (a) rate coefficients for total removal from specific states of NO(X (2)Pi(1/2); upsilon = 3; J = 0.5, 3.5 or 6.5) and (b) state-to-state rate coefficients for rotational energy transfer from these levels to specific final states. Using different Laval nozzles, results have been obtained at several different temperatures: for He as collision partner, 295, 149, 63, 27, 15 and 7 K; for Ar, 139, 53, 44 and 27 K; and for N-2, 86 and 47 K. The thermally averaged cross-sections for total removal show remarkably little variation, either with temperature or with initial rotational state. The variation of state-to-state rate coefficients with Delta J shows three general features: (i) a decrease with increasing Delta J; (ii) a propensity to favor even Delta J transitions over odd Delta J changes; and (iii) at lower temperatures, decreases in J are increasingly favored over increases in J and the distribution of rate coefficients against Delta J becomes narrower. The experimental rate coefficients for collisions with He and Ar are compared with those from both close coupled and coupled states calculations based on potential energy surfaces determined within the coupled electron pair approximation (CEPA) with a large atomic orbital basis set. The agreement between theory and experiment of both the total and the state-to-state rate coefficients is excellent over the complete range of temperatures covered in the experiments. (C) 1998 American institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(98)02034-0].