Laser-induced chemical reactions

A classical model for the interaction of laser radiation with a molecular system is derived. This model is used to study the enhancement of a chemical reaction via a collision induced absorption. It was found that an infrared laser will in general enhance the rate of a chemical reaction, even if the reactants are infrared inactive. Reslts for an illustrative analytically solvable model are presented, as well as results from classical trajectory studies on a number of systems. The collision induced absorption spectrum in these systems can be written as the Fourier transform of a particular dipole correlation function. This is used to obtain the collision induced absorption spectrum for a state-selected, mono-energetic reactive collision system. Examples treated are a one dimensional barrier problem, reactive and nonreactive collisions of H + H2, and a modified H + H2 potential energy surface which leads to a collision intermediate.