CHEMILUMINESCENCE STUDIES OF ALKALI METALS AND HALOGEN MOLECULES

Abstract

Emission spectra have been observed resulting from the reaction of alkali metals (M) and halogen molecules (XY) when an alkali beam traverses a scattering chamber filled with halogen gas. The visible spectrum consists of what is believed to be a long progression in the bending mode of a triatomic molecule. The spectra are postulated to result from the reaction scheme \begin{eqnarray*} M + XY \rightarrow MX^{+} + Y \\ Y + M_{2} \rightarrow M_{2} Y^{*} \\ M_{2}Y^{*} \rightarrow M_{2}Y^{*} + h\nu \end{eqnarray*} These results correlate with experimental studies of exchange reactions between alkali atoms and alkali halide molecules in which a long-lives $MM^{\prime} Y$ complex is deduced