Vibrational state distributions following the photodissociation of (collinear) triatomic molecules: The vibrational reflection principle in model calculations for CF3I

Abstract

Vibrational state distributions following the direct photodissociation of a collinear, triatomic molecule is investigated with particular emphasis on the so-called final state interaction, i.e., the translational–vibrational coupling due to the excited state interaction potential. In order to separate the various effects which determine the state distribution we performed calculations on three levels of accuracy: The energy sudden (ES) approximation, the modified sudden (MS) approximation, and the exact close-coupling (CC) formulation. The pure ES distributions peak at high states and are very broad. They are explained within the semiclassical limit as a mapping of an amplitude onto the quantum number axis. We call this effect vibrational reflection principle in analogy to the equivalent effect in rotational excitation processes. It is a direct and sensitive probe of the parameters of the system, most importantly the potential energy surface. Energy conservation strongly modifies the ES distributions. The MS and CC distributions are much narrower and peak at considerably lower states. A detailed analysis is given within the MS approximation. Based on these general conclusions we suggest a particular excited state potential for the dissociation of CF3I which qualitatively reproduces the recently reported experimental CF3 distribution. The essential feature of this potential is a distance dependent local frequency which we find necessary to obtain distributions as broad as in the experiment. Because of the inherent difficulties with the time-of-flight technique if several energy transfer channels are involved we certainly do not know how realistic our final potential energy surface is. However, the general trends found in this study should be valid for a larger class of systems.