2-]OH-VERTICAL-BAR-V'LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-4,N']+H - THE ANATOMY OF AREACTION(H)

The OH(upsilon' = 4, N' = 1) products of the photon-initiated reaction O(D-1(2)) + H-2(upsilon = 0) --> OH(upsilon', N') + H have been probe d using Doppler-resolved laser induced fluorescence. The data are used to extract the product state-resolved differential cross-section and excitation function. The state-specific angular distribution displays pronounced forward-backward peaks with a bias for backward scattering. The experimental data are compared with the results of QCT calculatio ns, using two alternative ab initio versions of the ground 1(1)A' pote ntial energy surface, and a recent ab initio version of the first exci ted 1(1)A '' potential energy surface, in order to assess its possible influence on the overall dynamics of the reaction.