Dissociation rate constants for oxygen at temperatures up to 11000 K

Measurements of the absorption and vibrational temperature evolution of molecular oxygen behind the shock wave front in regimes with temperatures near the front varying over the range 4000–11 000 K made it possible to determine the dissociation rate constant for O2 molecules under both thermal equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. The dependence of the dissociation rate constant on the ratio T v /T, that is, on the deviation from the thermal equilibrium conditions, is demonstrated experimentally. The corresponding expression for the two-temperature dissociation rate constant is proposed.