Vibrational-Rotational Energy Distributions in the Reaction O

The D + transfer reaction between O -( 2 P) and D 2 to form OD and D -was studied using the crossed molecular beam technique at collision energies of 1.55 and 1.95 eV. The reaction appears to proceed by a direct mechanism through large impact parameters. At both collision energies, more that 70% of the excess energy is partitioned into product translation. At the lower collision energy, the OD products are formed in the ground vibrational state with a bimodal rotational energy distribution. At the higher collision energy, both V′ ) 0 and 1 products are formed; ground vibrational state products have a mean rotational energy of 0.05 eV, corresponding to J′ ≈ 6. In contrast, OD products formed in V′ ) 1 are formed with significant rotational excitation, with the most probable J′ ≈ 15. The bimodal rotational distribution is rationalized in terms of trajectories that sampl