Femtosecond IR photodissociation in the electronic ground state

(W. Fuß, Sfb-Kolloquium am 04.11.03, HS A, FB Physik)

By focusing 5 µm radiation with 150 fs pulse length, metal carbonyls and diazomethane were dissociated in the gas phase. Excitation proceeds by climbing up a ladder of (practically) a single resonant mode. Whereas dissociation requires vibrational energy redistribution, this process is far from completion during reaction.