Abstract
Chapter 1 is a detailed review of the two main techniques developed in the last two decades for the study of molecular systems. We compare the fast beam technique with the ion imaging technique. A detailed analysis of the applicability of a special CCD camera in a velocity map imaging setup is presented in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 we present an experiment on the photodestruction of the NO2- anion at 266 nm. We quantify the competition between photodetachment and photodissociation and identify the parallel nature of the photodissociation process from the photofragment angular distribution. Chapter 4 refers to single-photon spectroscopy of H2 starting from the metastable c3 u- state to a number of triplet nd-Rydberg states (v=0-4, n>12). Both the autoionization and the predissociation channels are quantified, field-free as well as with small electric fields. Coupling with the i3 g state is assumed to be responsible for field-free predissociation of the v=0 Rydberg levels. In Chapter 5, the O2- molecules are subject to UV photon excitation. Photodetachment and photodissociation are the decay channels for the excited O2- molecules. The photodissociation fraction is ~ 10% and increases somewhat between 285 and 266 nm. The photofragment angular distribution has an anisotropy parameter =1.9, indicating that the process of dissociation has a parallel character. A detailed analysis of the kinetic energy release of the photofragments shows structure related to the distribution over the 6 fine-structure dissociation limits. The results are compared with an analytical diabatic dissociation model taking into account the long range charge-quadrupole interactions.
