Excited state lifetime during photostimulated desorption of no from a Pt surface

Abstract

We analyze the rotational energy distribution N(J) for NO molecules desorbed from a Pt (111) surface, taking into account the valence electron excitations, using a simple impulse model. We find a linear dependence between ln N(J) and (Er)1/2, where Er is the rotational energy of the desorbed molecules. The excited state lifetime and the critical residence time in the excited state, evaluated from the given dependences, are close to each other, and in order of magnitude are 10−15 s. We also estimate the frequency and amplitude of the tilting vibrations of the adsorbed molecules in the excited state.