Vibrational and Rotational Energy Distribution of NO Scattered from the Pt(111) Crystal Surface: Detection by Two-Photon Ionization

The vibrational and rotational state distributions of a supersonic nitric oxide beam, scattered from a Pt(111) single crystal surface, were investigated. A two-photon ionization technique was applied to monitor the internal energy content of the scattered molecules. Vibrational distributions were found to be colder than that corresponding to the crystal temperature between 450-1100 K. Rotational temperatures were also found to be colder than expected for thermal equilibrium with the platinum surface.