VECTOR CORRELATIONS IN THE REACTION O(P-3)-]CO(X(1)SIGMA(+))+S(P-3)(CS(X(1)SIGMA(+)))

The reaction O(P-3) + CS(X(1) Sigma(+))-->CO(X(1) Sigma(+)) + S(P-3) h as been studied using translationally aligned oxygen atoms formed from the 355 nm polarized photodissociation of NO2. The nascent CO product was detected by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) with sub-Doppler res olution in order to extract the pair correlations between the reagent and product relative velocities k and k' and the product rotational an gular momentum J'. Previous theories interpreting the Doppler profiles of photodissociation products in terms of vector correlations have be en extended to the case of bimolecular reactions. The system studied w as seen to yield a close to isotropic distribution of product velociti es k' about the k direction, and a rotational alignment of J' with k c lose to zero. The CO molecule departs with its rotational angular mome ntum vector J' aligned preferentially perpendicular to the product rel ative velocity k', hence exhibiting a negative k', J' correlation. Fur ther insight has been gained on these results by quasiclassical trajec tory (QCT) calculations on a London-Eyring-Polanyi-Sato (LEPS) potenti al energy surface (PES).