Femtosecond time-resolved charged particle imaging studies of the ultraviolet photodissociation of the NO dimer

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Reaction of NH2 with NO at Very Low Temperatures

The first experimental study of the low-temperature kinetics of the gas-phase reaction between NH2 and NO has been performed. A pulsed laser photolysis-laser-induced fluorescence technique was used to create and monitor the temporal decay of NH2 in the presence of NO. Measurements were carried out over the temperature range of 24-106 K, with the low temperatures achieved using a pulsed Laval nozzle expansion. The negative temperature dependence of the reaction rate coefficient observed at higher temperatures in the literature continues at these lower temperatures, with the rate coefficient reaching 3.5 × 10-10 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 at T = 26 K. Ab initio calculations of the potential energy surface were combined with rate theory calculations using the MESMER software package in order to calculate and predict rate coefficients and branching ratios over a wide range of temperatures, which are largely consistent with experimentally determined literature values. These theoretical calculations indicate that at the low temperatures investigated for this reaction, only one product channel producing N2 + H2O is important. The rate coefficients determined in this study were used in a gas-phase astrochemical model. Models were run over a range of physical conditions appropriate for cold to warm molecular clouds (10 to 30 K; 104 to 106 cm-3), resulting in only minor changes (<1%) to the abundances of NH2 and NO at steady state. Hence, despite the observed increase in the rate at low temperatures, this mechanism is not a dominant loss mechanism for either NH2 or NO under dark cloud conditions.

Predissociation dynamics of the B state of CH3I by femtosecond pump-probe technique

The laser induced predissociation dynamics of the B Rydberg state of CH(3)I following two-photon absorption of a pump pulse was studied with femtosecond pump-probe photoelectron imaging coupled with time-resolved mass spectroscopy. The predissociation lifetime was measured to be 1.55 ps induced by the crossing between the B state and the repulsive A-band. Two possible predissociation channels were observed originating from (a) direct coupling between the B state and the repulsive (3)Q(0) state and (b) a second crossing between the (3)Q(0) and (1)Q(1) states after the coupling between the B and (3)Q(0) states, respectively.

Photofragment Spectroscopy and Predissociation Dynamics of Weakly Bound Molecules

Photofragment spectroscopy is combined with imaging techniques and time-resolved measurements of photoions and photoelectrons to explore the predissociation dynamics of weakly bound molecules. Recent experimental advances include measurements of pair-correlated distributions, in which energy disposal in one cofragment is correlated with a state-selected level of the other fragment, and femtosecond pump-probe experiments, in some cases with coincidence detection. An application in which coincident measurements are carried out in the molecular frame is also described. To illustrate these state-selective and time-resolved techniques, we review two recent applications: (a) the photoinitiated dissociation of the covalently bound NO dimer on the ground and excited electronic states and the role of state couplings and (b) the state-selected vibrational predissociation of hydrogen-bonded acetylene dimers with HCl (acid) and ammonia (base) and the importance of angular momentum constraints. We highlight the crucial role of theoretical models in interpreting results.

Improved results for the excited states of nitric oxide, including the B/C avoided crossing

The potential energy surfaces of ten electronic states of nitric oxide (NO) have been reexamined computationally, with state energies calculated using ab initio multireference methods. Our wave function expansions of 10x10(6) configurations improve upon the results of de Vivie and Peyerimhoff [J. Chem. Phys. 89, 3028 (1988)], who obtained excellent results from expansions of 16 000 configurations in 1988. We present results for the adiabatic properties r(e), B(e), T(e), and omega(e), demonstrating standard errors of 0.012 A, 0.026 cm(-1), 620 cm(-1), and 41 cm(-1), respectively. Vertical excitation energies and oscillator strengths are also presented, as are potential energy surface curves, with special attention to the B/C avoided crossing. The technical issue of state-averaging effects is also discussed.

Photodissociation dynamics of the NO dimer. I. Theoretical overview of the ultraviolet singlet excited states

Molecular orbital theory and calculations are used to describe the ultraviolet singlet excited states of NO dimer. Qualitatively, we derive and catalog the dimer states by correlating them with monomer states, and provide illustrative complete active space self-consistent field calculations. Quantitatively, we provide computational estimates of vertical transition energies and absorption intensities with multireference configuration interaction and equations-of-motion coupled-cluster methods, and examine an important avoided crossing between a Rydberg and a valence state along the intermonomer and intramonomer stretching coordinates. The calculations are challenging, due to the high density of electronic states of various types (valence and Rydberg, excimer and charge transfer) in the 6-8 eV region, and the multiconfigurational nature of the ground state. We have identified a bright charge-transfer (charge-resonance) state as responsible for the broadband seen in UV absorption experiments. We also use our results to facilitate the interpretation of UV photodissociation experiments, including the time-resolved 6 eV photodissociation experiments to be presented in the next two papers of this series.

Femtosecond Multidimensional Imaging of a Molecular Dissociation

The coupled electronic and vibrational motions governing chemical processes are best viewed from the molecule's point of view-the molecular frame. Measurements made in the laboratory frame often conceal information because of the random orientations the molecule can take. We used a combination of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, multidimensional coincidence imaging spectroscopy, and ab initio computation to trace a complete reactant-to-product pathway-the photodissociation of the nitric oxide dimer-from the molecule's point of view, on the femtosecond time scale. This method revealed an elusive photochemical process involving intermediate electronic configurations.

Time-resolved photoion and photoelectron imaging of NO2

Time-resolved photoion and photoelectron velocity mapped images from NO(2) excited close to its first dissociation limit [to NO(X(2)Pi) + O((3)P(2))] have been recorded in a two colour pump-probe experiment, using the frequency-doubled and frequency-tripled output of a regeneratively amplified titanium-sapphire laser. At least three processes are responsible for the observed transient signals; a negative pump-probe signal (corresponding to a 266 nm pump), a very short-lived transient close to the cross-correlation of the pump and probe pulses but on the 400 nm pump side, and a longer-lived positive pump-probe signal that exhibits a signature of wavepacket motion (oscillations). These transients have two main origins; multiphoton excitation of the Rydberg states of NO(2) by both 266 and 400 nm light, and electronic relaxation in the 1(2)B(2) state of NO(2), which leads to a quasi-dissociated NO(2) high in the 1(2)A(1) electronic ground state and just below the dissociation threshold. The wavepacket motion that we observe is ascribed to states exhibiting free rotation of the O atom about the NO moiety. These states, which are common for loosely bound systems such as a van der Waals complex but unusual for a chemically-bound molecule, have previously been observed in the frequency domain by optical double resonance spectroscopy but never before in the time domain.

Imaging the dynamics of gas phase reactions

Ion imaging methods are making ever greater impact on studies of gas phase molecular reaction dynamics. This article traces the evolution of the technique, highlights some of the more important breakthroughs with regards to improving image resolution and in image processing and analysis methods, and then proceeds to illustrate some of the many applications to which the technique is now being applied--most notably in studies of molecular photodissociation and of bimolecular reaction dynamics.

Photoelectron kinetic energy dependence in near threshold ionization of NO from A state studied by time-resolved photoelectron imaging

Photoelectron angular distributions in the laboratory frame (LF-PADs) from the A((2)sigma(+)) state of NO molecule were measured by femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging with (1 + 1(')) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization via the A state. High-precision measurements of the anisotropy parameters of LF-PADs were performed for the photoelectron kinetic energy from 0.03 to 1.05 eV as a function of the pump-probe delay time. The revival feature of the rotational wave packet on the A state was clearly observed in the time dependence of the photoelectron anisotropy parameters. By approximating the phase shifts of the photoelectron partial waves by the quantum defects in the high-lying Rydberg states using the multichannel quantum defect theory, the energy-dependent photoionization transition dipole moments were determined, for the first time, from time-dependent LF-PADs measured by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy.

Dissociative multiphoton ionization of NO[sub 2] studied by time-resolved imaging

We have studied dissociative multiphoton ionization of NO2 by time-resolved velocity map imaging in a two-color pump-probe experiment using the 400 and 266 nm harmonics of a regeneratively amplified titanium-sapphire laser. We observe that most of the ion signal appears as NO+ with approximately 0.28 eV peak kinetic energy. Approximately 600 fs period oscillations indicative of wave packet motion are also observed in the NO+ decay. We attribute the signal to two competitive mechanisms. The first involving three-photon 400 nm absorption followed by dissociative ionization of the pumped state by a subsequent 266 nm photon. The second involving one-photon 400 nm absorption to the 2B2 state of NO2 followed by two-photon dissociative ionization at 266 nm. This interpretation is derived from the observation that the total NO+ ion signal exhibits biexponential decay, 0.72 exp(-t/90+/-10)+0.28 exp(-t/4000+/-400), where t is the 266 nm delay in femtoseconds. The fast decay of the majority of the NO+ signal suggests a direct dissociation via the bending mode of the pumped state. .

Non-adiabatic intramolecular and photodissociation dynamics studied by femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron and coincidence imaging spectroscopy

Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (TRPES) is emerging as a useful tool for the study of non-adiabatic dynamics in isolated polyatomic molecules and clusters due to its sensitivity to both electronic and vibrational dynamics. A powerful extension of TRPES, coincidence imaging spectroscopy (CIS), based upon femtosecond time-resolved 3D momentum vector imaging of both photoions and photoelectrons in coincidence, is a new technique for the study of complex dissociative processes. Here we show how these spectroscopies can be used to study both non-adiabatic intramolecular and photodissociation dynamics in polyatomic molecules. Intramolecular dynamics in the alpha, beta-enones acrolein, crotonaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone are studied using both TRPES and laser-induced fluorescence of HCO(X) product yields. The location of the methyl group is seen to have very dramatic effects on the relative electronic relaxation rates and the HCO(X) yield. Applying both TRPES and CIS to the 200 nm and 209 nm photodissociation of the nitric oxide dimer, (NO)2, we observe the fs time-scale evolution of the excited parent neutral via its photoelectron spectrum and the emergence of the NO(A) photofragment including its energy and angular distributions.