| Abstrakt: |
A semiclassical calculation is presented that fully accounts for the angular momentum disposal in photodissociation of triatomic molecules. Rotational distributions are calculated for O2(3Σ-g) produced by the visible photolysis of ozone, O2(1Δg) by the UV photolysis of ozone, and OH by the 157 nm dissociation of water, to illustrate the effects of parent internal motion on fragment rotational distributions in the dissociation of C2v geometry molecules. A simple, but realistic, impulsive model of the energy release is used to describe the dissociation dynamics. The calculations are carried out for parent molecules at room temperature, as well as at the low temperatures characteristic of molecular beams. The contributions to the diatomic fragment rotational distribution from both parent triatom rotation and zero-point bending vibration are computed. Comparison of the calculated distributions with experimentally measured distributions indicates that the spread in rotational and bending vibrational angular momenta of the parent molecule can account for all or nearly all of the spread in final J of the diatomic photofragment. However, the rotational distributions of the diatomic photofragment reveal a strong vector correlation between the diatom angular momentum produced by the dissociative energy release, and the angular momentum associated with the in-plane rotation. The correlation is such that only half of all the photofragment states allowed by energy and angular momentum conservation are actually produced with appreciable probability. Of two energy degenerate photofragment states, corresponding to breaking of one or the other nominally equivalent bonds in the AB2 molecule, the one with the smaller orbital angular momentum/recoil linear momentum is strongly favored. This is explained by larger Franck–Condon overlap in the photoexcitation for the state of lower recoil angular momentum. The correlation involves selection of which of the two... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
