Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.114, No.16, 7073-7080, 2001
Quantum state distributions of HCl from the ultraviolet photodissociation of HCl dimer
The rovibrational state distributions for the HCl product of the 193 nm photodissociation of (HCl)(2), (HCl)(2)+h nu -->H+Cl+HCl, have been measured. The HCl dimer is prepared in a supersonic expansion of HCl in Ar, and its photoproduct detected by resonant multiphoton ionization under collisionless conditions. The state distributions are extremely "cold," with very little of the available energy deposited in either rotation or vibration of the surviving HCl molecule. Only v(')=0 product is observed, and linear rotational surprisal analysis yields an extremely large surprisal parameter, theta (r)' of 95(8). The results are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions.