Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.117, No.3, 1130-1138, 2002
Dissociative ionization of ICl studied by ion imaging spectroscopy
The speed and angular distributions of I+ ions, produced when ICl molecules were exposed to both ultraviolet and visible radiation at 304+608 nm, 355+608 nm, and 304+532 nm, were measured by velocity map imaging. An intense central feature in the I+ images was observed to be very sensitive to the polarization of the ultraviolet light and is attributed to a dissociative ionization mechanism involving three-body fragmentation: ICl+hv (visible)+3hv (ultraviolet)-->I++Cl+e(-). The effect of varying the delay between the visible and ultraviolet radiation on the I+ images suggests that an intermediate gateway state of ICl reached by absorption of one photon of visible light mediates the transition to the superexcited dissociative ionization state.