Effect of a single quantum rotational excitation on state-to-state dynamics of the O(1D)+H2-->OH+H reaction

Crossed molecular beams scattering experiments on the O(1D)+H2 reaction have been carried out in order to study the effect of the reagent (H2) rotational excitation on the detailed dynamics of this benchmark insertion reation. Experimental results indicate that a single quantum rotational excitation of H2 has a significant impact on the product state distributions at the forward and backward scattering directions, while very little effect has been found in the sideway scattering direction. No clear patterns of this effect are found in the OH-product state distributions, indicating that the single quantum excitation on the dynamics is rather complicated.