Edward R. Fisher, Professor Emeritus

PhD, The Johns Hopkins University, 1965

Contact Information

Department of Chemical Engineering
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
Ph: 906/487-3057
Fax: 906/487-3213
E-Mail: edfisher@mtu.edu

Plasma Chemistry 

We are interested in the excited-state chemistry and energy transfer processes associated with gas systems driven by electrons and high electric fields. We use detailed modeling of these environments with numerical codes that solve the Boltzmann Equation for the distribution of electron energy in the plasma. We then use this information to calculate rate coefficients for time-dependent modeling of the excited state and reactive chemistry. Past studies have dealt with the detailed processes important to the operation of molecular laser systems such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. More recent studies have focused on the complex chemistry generated in nanosecond DC-pulsed corona discharges used in the surface treatment of polymer films. 

Excited State Chemistry 

Past work has been focused on understanding the dynamics and energy flow involved in fast gas-phase chemical reactions in which vibrational and electronic energy is present. This interest includes electronic quenching processes, vibration-electronic coupling, and vibration-vibration energy transfer processes. 

Selected Publications 

1.S. Kim and E. Fisher, Fast Vibration-Electronic Energy Transfer in a CO Molecular Laser Discharge, Journal of Soonchunhyang University, 17, No. 1 (1994). 
2.P. Whitlock, J. Muckerman, and E. Fisher, Quasiclassical Trajectory Investigations of the Reaction O(1D) + H2, J. Chemical Physics, 76, 4468 (1982). 
3.W. Morgan and E. Fisher, The Effects of O2 on Low Pressure CO Laser Discharges, Physical Review, 16, 1186 (1977). 
4.D. Lederman, E. Resler, S.Bauer, and E. Fisher, Homogeneous Gas Phase H2 + D2 Metathesis at Room Temperature, Intern. J. Chem. Kinetics, 5, 1966 (1972). 
5.E. Bauer, F. Gilmore and E. Fisher, De-excitation of Electronically Excited Sodium by Nitrogen and Some Other Diatomic Molecules, J. Chemical Physics, 51, 4173 (1969).