Time-of-Flight Spectroscopy of Metastable Photodissociation Fragments. N2O Dissociation in the Vacuum uv

Abstract

The photodissociation of N2O involving electronically excited metastable fragments has been investigated at wavelengths ≳ 1050 Å by photofragment translational energy spectroscopy. Irradiation was carried out with light pulses of a few microseconds duration, and fragment energies were measured by means of the time-of-flight technique. Auger electron emission from metal surfaces, cesium and brass, was used to detect metastable fragments after a flight path length of 46 cm. Experiments have been made in the wavelength regions ∼ 1050–1440, ∼ 1250–1440, and ∼ 1350–1440 Å. Formation of the metastables N2(A 3Σu+) and O(1S) in the processes N2O→N2(A 3Σu+)+O(3P) and N2O→N2(X 1Σg+)+O(1S) has been observed. O(1S) appeared in a translational energy range from ∼ 3 to 1 eV, and N2(A 3Σu+) in a range from ∼ 1 to 0.1 eV. O(1S) produced electron emission upon deactivation at a cesium-cated surface, and N2(A 3Σu+) produced electron emission upon deactivation at a cesium and also a bare brass surface.