State-to-state dynamics at the gas-liquid metal interface: rotationally and electronically inelastic scattering of NO[2Π(1/2)(0.5)] from molten gallium.

Jet cooled NO molecules are scattered at 45° with respect to the surface normal from a liquid gallium surface at E(inc) from 1.0(3) to 20(6) kcal/mol to probe rotationally and electronically inelastic scattering from a gas-molten metal interface (numbers in parenthesis represent 1σ uncertainty in the corresponding final digits). Scattered populations are detected at 45° by confocal laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on the γ(0-0) and γ(1-1) A(2)Σ ← X(2)Π(Ω) bands, yielding rotational, spin-orbit, and λ-doublet population distributions. Scattering of low speed NO molecules results in Boltzmann distributions with effective temperatures considerably lower than that of the surface, in respectable agreement with the Bowman-Gossage rotational cooling model [J. M. Bowman and J. L. Gossage, Chem. Phys. Lett. 96, 481 (1983)] for desorption from a restricted surface rotor state. Increasing collision energy results in a stronger increase in scattered NO rotational energy than spin-orbit excitation, with an opposite trend noted for changes in surface temperature. The difference between electronic and rotational dynamics is discussed in terms of the possible influence of electron hole pair excitations in the conducting metal. While such electronically non-adiabatic processes can also influence vibrational dynamics, the γ(1-1) band indicates <2.6 × 10(-4) probability for collisional formation of NO(v = 1) at surface temperatures up to 580 K. Average translational to rotational energy transfer is compared from a hard cube model perspective with previous studies of NO scattering from single crystal solid surfaces. Despite a lighter atomic mass (70 amu), the liquid Ga surface is found to promote translational to rotational excitation more efficiently than Ag(111) (108 amu) and nearly as effectively as Au(111) (197 amu). The enhanced propensity for Ga(l) to transform incident translational energy into rotation is discussed in terms of temperature-dependent capillary wave excitation of the gas-liquid metal interface.