A time-resolved investigation is presented of the electronic energy distribution in SrI following the
collision of the optically metastable strontium atom, Sr [5s5p(3PJ)], with the molecule CF3I. Sr[5s5p(3PJ)], 1.807 eV above its 5s2(1S0) electronic ground state, was generated by pulsed dye-laser excitation of ground
state strontium vapour to the Sr(53P1) state at , λ =689.3 nm {Sr(53P1←51S0)} at elevated temperature (840 K) in the presence of excess helium buffer gas in which rapid Boltzmann equilibration within the 53PJ spin-orbit
manifold takes place. Time resolved atomic emission from Sr(53P1→51S0) at the resonance transition
and the molecular chemiluminescence from SrI(A2∏1,2,3/2,B2∑+→X2∑+) resulting from reaction of the excited
atom with CF3I were recorded and shown to be exponential in character. SrI in the A2∏1/2,3/2 (172.5, 175.4 kJ mol-1) and B2∑+ (177.3 kJ mol-1) states are energetically accessible on collision by direct-I-atomic
abstraction between Sr(3P) and CF3I. The first-order decay coefficients for the atomic and molecular emissions are found to be equal under identical conditions and hence SrI(A2∏1/2,3/2, B2∑+) are shown to arise from direct I- atom abstraction reactions. The molecular systems recorded were SrI (A2∏1/2→X2∑+, Δv=0, λ=694 nm), SrI(A2∏3/2→X2∑+, Δv=0, λ=677 nm) and SrI(B2∑+→X2∑+) (Δv=0, λ=674 nm), dominated
by the Δv=0 sequences on account of Franck-Condon considerations. The combination of integrated
m61ecular and atomic intensity measurements yields estimates of the branching ratios into the specific electronic
states, A1/2, A3/2 and B, arising from Sr(53PJ)+CF3I which are found to be as follows: A1/2,1.2 × 10-2; A3/2, 6.7 × 10-3; B, 5.1 × 10-3 yielding ∑SrI(A1/2+A3/2+B)=2.4 × 10-2. As only the X, A and B states SrI are accessible on reaction, assuming that the removal of Sr(53PJ) occurs totally by chemical removal, this yields an upper limit for the branching ratio into the ground state of ca. 98%. The present results are compared with previous time-resolved measurements on excited states of strontium halides that we have reported on
various halogenated species resulting from reactions of Sr(53PJ), together with analogous chemiluminescence studies on Sr(3PJ) and Ca(43PJ) from molecular beam measurements.
A physico-chemical model to study the ion density distribution in the inner coma of comet C/2016 R2 (Pan-STARRS)
