Combustion Research Program: Flame studies, laser diagnostics, and chemical kinetics

We have made a detailed study of the care that must be taken to correctly measure OH radical concentrations in flames. A large part of these studies has concerned collisional quenching of hydride radical species (OH, NH, and NH{sub 2}), in particular the dependence upon rotational level and collision velocity (temperature). The results on OH and NH have shown unique and interesting behavior from the viewpoint of fundamental molecular dynamics, pointing to quenching often governed by collisions on an anisotropic, attractive surface, whereas NH{sub 2} quenching appears to depend on state-mixing considerations, not dynamic control. This state-specific behavior of these small, theoretically tractable hydrides has direct ramifications for quantitative flame diagnostics. Our other effort in the diagnostic area has been repeated but unsuccessful searches for laser induced fluorescence in the vinyl radical