Vibrational relaxation of NO (v = 1–16) in collisions with O2 studied by time resolved Fourier transform infrared emission

Rates of vibrational quenching of NO (v = 1–16) in collisions with O2 have been measured at 295 K. NO(v) was formed both by the O(1D) + N2O reaction and the 193 nm photolysis of NO2, and time resolved FT-IR emission was used to follow the behaviour of the vibrationally excited species. Rate constants were found to peak close to resonance for the single quantum exchange process between NO and O2.