edited by H-L Dai (Univ. Pennsylvania) & R W Field (MIT)

Since the first stimulated emission pumping (SEP) experiments more than a decade ago, this technique has proven powerful for studying vibrationally excited molecules. SEP is now widely used by increasing numbers of research groups to investigate fundamental problems in spectroscopy, intramolecular dynamics, intermolecular interactions, and even reactions. SEP provides rotationally pre-selected spectra of vibrationally highly excited molecules undergoing large amplitude motions. A unique feature of SEP is the ability to access systematically a wide variety of extreme excitations localized in various parts of a molecule, and to prepare populations in specific, high vibrational levels. SEP has made it possible to ask and answer specific questions about intramolecular vibrational redistribution and the role of vibrational excitation in chemical reactions.

• Experimental Methods and Spectroscopy of Vibrationally Excited Molecules:
  • Resonant Four-Wave Mixing Spectroscopy: A New Probe for Vibrationally-Excited Species (P H Vaccaro)
  • Femtosecond Transient Stimulated Emission Pumping: Theory and Experiment (L Hunziker et al.)
  • Coherent Population Transfer (K Bergmann & B W Shore)
• Intramolecular Vibrational Redistribution and Unimolecular Dissociation:
  • State-Specific Intramolecular and Dissociation Dynamics of HFCO (Y S Choi & C B Moore)
  • High Resolution Spectroscopy of Chemical Isomerization: Stimulated Emission Pumping of HCN (D M Jonas et al.)
  • Stimulated Emission Ion-Dip Spectroscopy of Jet-Cooled Molecules and Complexes: Vibrational Spectroscopy and Intramolecular Vibrational Redistribution (T Ebata & M Ito)
• Intermolecular Interactions:
  • Probing Vibrational Relaxation with Stimulated Emission Pumping Spectroscopy (S H Kable et al.)
  • Stimulated Emission Pumping as a Probe of the OH(X²II) + Ar Intermolecular Potential Energy Surface (M L Lester et al.)
• Theoretical Methods for Extracting Vibrational Dynamics:
  • Spectroscopy and Dynamics in the Wings (E J Heller)
  • Computation of SEP Spectra (C Leforestier & R E Wyatt)
  • Trees from Spectra: Generation, Analysis, and Energy Transfer Information (M J Davis)
  • Dynamical Analysis of Highly Excited Vibrational Spectra: Progress and Prospects (M E Kellman)
  • and sixteen other papers