Quantitative Product Branching for Multichannel Reactions Using Chirped-Pulse Spectroscopy in Pulsed Uniform Flow

International audienceA new experimental apparatus is presented that combines two powerful technologies: chirped-pulse Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy (CP-FTMW) and pulsed uniform supersonic flows to address the need of a detection technique that can give isomer-specific identification and structural characterization of reaction products and intermediates and their branching ratios in the field of reaction dynamics. CP-FTMW spectroscopy is a revolutionary new technique capable of producing broadband rotational spectrum in a single data acquisition. However, a high density (10^16 cm-3) of cold products (20-30 K) is needed for this approach to be effective. Uniform supersonic flows are an ideal environment for providing these conditions, as well as allowing for stabilization of reaction intermediates and determination of reaction kinetics with product detection. Presented here is a description of the new apparatus, chirped pulse in pulsed uniform supersonic flow (CPUF) spectrometer and its capabilities