Laser induced selective activation

Combinatorial methods were also applied in the discovery of new catalysts for the low-temperature oxidation213 and oxidative dehydrogenation of propane.214 A 144-member catalyst library was screened by photothermal deflection spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to find the most active compositions of V-Al-Nb and Cr-Al-Nb oxides for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane.215 The ternary combination V(45)-Sn(45)-Mo(10)-O selected by laser-induced fluorescence imaging gave much higher yield than did V205 in the selective oxidation of naphthalene to naphthoquinone.216... 

Reaction selectivity is observed on laser-induced desorption and dissociation of NO and CO chemisorbed on Ni, Pd, and Pt surfaces via the electronic transition using visible and ultraviolet nanosecond-pulsed lasers, as listed in Table 6. The open circle shows that desorption and dissociation have been observed, while the cross mark means that they have not been observed. These metals are isoelectronic and the band structure is very similar, but the activity on laser-induced desorption and dissociation is remarkably different. The origin of the different desorption activity between Pt and other transition metals of Ni and Pd may be closely related with the nature of the antibonding 2-ira state in adsorbed NO and CO [11]. 

Principles and Characteristics The analytical capabilities of the conventional fluorescence (CF) technique (c/r. Chp. 1.4.2) are enhanced by the use of lasers as excitation sources. These allow precise activation of fluorophores with finely tuned laser-induced emission. The laser provides a very selective means of populating excited states and the study of the spectra of radiation emitted as these states decay is generally known as laser-induced fluorescence (LIF, either atomic or molecular fluorescence) [105] or laser-excited atomic fluorescence spectrometry (LEAFS). In LIF an absorption spectrum is obtained by measuring the excitation spectrum for creating fluorescing excited state... 

Since the mid-1960s, a variety of analytical chemistry techniques have been used to characterize obsidian sources and artifacts for provenance research (4, 32-36). The most common of these methods include optical emission spectroscopy (OES), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), particle-induced X-ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and neutron activation analysis (NAA). When selecting a method of analysis for obsidian, one must consider accuracy, precision, cost, promptness of results, existence of comparative data, and availability. Most of the above-mentioned techniques are capable of determining a number of elements, but some of the methods are more labor-intensive, more destructive, and less precise than others. The two methods with the longest and most successful histoty of success for obsidian provenance research are XRF and NAA. 

Lasers have three primary components (Fig. 4) 1) an active medium that amplifies incident electromotive waves 2) an energy pump that selectively pumps energy into the active medium to populate selected levels and to achieve population inversion and 3) an optical resonator, or cavity, composed of two opposite mirrors a set distance apart that store part of induced emission concentrated in a few resonator modes. A population inversion must be produced in the laser medium, deviating from the Boltzman distribution thus, the induced emission rate exceeds the absorption rate, and an electromotive wave passing through the active medium is amplified rather than attenuated. The optical resonator causes selective feedback of radiation emitted from the excited species in the active medium. Above a pump threshold, feedback converts the laser ampler to an oscillator, resulting in emission in several modes. 

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