Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1998.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_US |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2005
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28203 |
| _version_ | 1826212355791388672 |
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| author | Janni, James A. (James Alan), 1970- |
| author2 | Jeffrey I. Steinfeld and Robert W. Field. |
| author_facet | Jeffrey I. Steinfeld and Robert W. Field. Janni, James A. (James Alan), 1970- |
| author_sort | Janni, James A. (James Alan), 1970- |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1998. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:20:24Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/28203 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:20:24Z |
| publishDate | 2005 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/282032020-07-07T19:46:12Z Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy Janni, James A. (James Alan), 1970- Jeffrey I. Steinfeld and Robert W. Field. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry Chemistry Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1998. Includes bibliographical references. The infrared vibrational Kerr effect was investigated as a potentially selective and sensitive detection method for explosives. The investigation of the vibrational Kerr effect commenced with the first reported measurement of the integrated infrared vapor absorption strengths for the explosives trinitrotoluene, (TNT), cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX), and pentaerythritrol tetranitrate (PETN). From the infrared absorption spectra, the characteristic N02 symmetric and asymmetric stretch bands of the explosives were identified as spectral targets for the vibrational Kerr effect. The vibrational Kerr spectra of fluoroform and nitromethane were successfully measured with conventional Kerr techniques. The vibrational Kerr measurements were first made on the CH stretch-bend combinations of fluoroform around 7000 cm7'. The remainder of the vibrational Kerr measurements were carried out on the N02 asymmetric stretch band of nitromethane at 15 84 nf '. Nitromethane was an ideal test molecule of the infrared measurement system because of its similarity to the eplosives and its large room temperature vapor pressure. Rotationally resolved Kerr spectra of nitromethane were recorded for segments of the asymmetric stretch band and the expected qualitative features of the Kerr spectra were observed. Although the sensitivity needed for the detection of explosives was not demonstrated, the selective detection of polar molecules over weakly polar molecules was demonstrated for a mixture of nitromethane and nitrogen dioxide. The methods investigated for measurement of the Kerr effect in both the infrared and ultraviolet spectral regions are described in detail. Polarization modulation of the light source with phase sensitive detection was expected to increase sensitivity to the Kerr effect over conventional Kerr techniques. Despite the anticipated sensitivity enhancement offered by polarization modulation, poor performance of the photoelastic modulators and the Fourier Transform spectrometer impeded the demonstration of the enhancement by James A. Janni. Ph.D. 2005-09-26T19:06:33Z 2005-09-26T19:06:33Z 1998 1998 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28203 42361351 en_US M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 154 p. 6431577 bytes 6431386 bytes application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Chemistry Janni, James A. (James Alan), 1970- Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy |
| title | Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy |
| title_full | Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy |
| title_fullStr | Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy |
| title_short | Vibrational Kerr spectroscopy |
| title_sort | vibrational kerr spectroscopy |
| topic | Chemistry |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28203 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jannijamesajamesalan1970 vibrationalkerrspectroscopy |