Vibrational relaxation of CO2(00°1) and N2O(00°1) by NO

The far-from-resonance transfers and the de-excitation processes in CO₂-NO and N₂O-NO systems have been studied by measuring fluorescence decay rate constants of CO₂ or N₂O excited to the (00°1) level by laser radiation. The diagrams giving the variations of these rate constants versus the molar fraction of CO₂ or N₂O have been set out. From these diagrams, the relative importance of the V-V transfer and V-T de-excitation rate constants is discussed. The transfer rate constants have been calculated from a semiclassical theory in which the interaction potential is a sum of four atom-atom Morse potentials. The disagreement observed between calculated and experimental values probably results from the attractive multipolar forces which the theory does not take into account.