Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.108, No.13, 5330-5337, 1998
Mass-resolved VUV laser spectroscopy of XeAr : Two competing predissociation pathways in the C1 state
Mass-resolved excitation spectra of the C1-X0(+) band of XeAr were measured under jet-cooled conditions using a tunable coherent vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light (lambda similar to 130 nm) as an excitation light source and a high-resolution (m/Delta m similar to 1100) reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The rotational structure of the C1-X0(+) (upsilon',0) (upsilon'=2-6) vibronic bands were recorded by monitoring the parent (XeAr+)-Xe-132-Ar-40 ions and the fragment Xe-132(+) ions. From the analysis of the rotational structures, the existence of the two dissociation pathways from the C1 state was identified for the first time; i.e., (i) the rotationally dependent predissociation caused by an electron-rotation interaction (L- and/or S-uncoupling) with the dissociative state with 0(-) symmetry correlating with the Xe 6s'(1/2)(0) level, and (ii) the rotationally independent predissociation caused by the electrostatic interaction with a repulsive state with Omega = 1 symmetry correlated either with the Xe 6s(3/2)(1) level or the Xe 6s(3/2)(2) level. From the least-squares fit to the partially resolved rotational structures, the dissociation rates for these two pathways as well as the band origins and the rotational constants, were derived for the upsilon'=2-6 levels in the C1 state.
Keywords:VAN-DER-WAALS;INTERATOMIC POTENTIALS;MULTIPHOTON IONIZATION;2-PHOTON SPECTRA;EXCITED-STATES;XE-2;REGION;ARXE;KR-2;XENE