Two-photon dissociation of N₂O to produce N(²D) and N(²P)

Abstract

N₂O was two-photon photolyzed between 235 and 240 nm. N(²D), N(²P) and NO(v″=1) could be detected as products by a resonance-enhanced multi-photon ionization technique combined with a time-of-flight mass spectrometric technique. The Doppler profile measurements of N(²D) and N(²P) showed that these species are formed in the two-photon dissociation of N₂O. Dissociation of the three-photon super excited states can be ignored. The yields of N(²D), N(²P) and NO(v″=1) as well as that of parent N₂O⁺ ions were measured as a function of the wavenumber of the excitation laser. Vibrational structures attributable to the 3pσ¹Π–X ¹Σ⁺ transition could be observed. Excitation to the 2₀¹(Σ⁺) state was found to promote the dissociation to neutral species. This suggests that the predissociation proceeds via a dissociative A′ state in the C_s symmetry.

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