Photo-double-ionization of ethylene and acetylene near threshold

Gaire B, Lee SY, Haxton DJ, Bocharova I, Sturm FP, Gehrken N, Honig M, Pitzer M, Metz D, Kim HK, Schoeffler M, Doerner R, Gassert H, Zeller S, Voigtsberger J, Cao W, Zohrabi M, Williams J, Gatton A, Reedy D, Nook C, Mueller T, Landers AL, Cocke CL, Ben-Itzhak I, Jahnke T, Belkacem A, Weber T, Pelz PM (2014)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2014

Journal

Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics American Physical Society

Book Volume: 89

Article Number: 013403

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.89.013403

Abstract

We present kinematically complete measurements of the photo-double- ionization of ethylene (double CC bond) and acetylene (triple CC bond) hydrocarbons just above the double-ionization threshold. We discuss the results in terms of the coincident kinetic energy of the photoelectrons and the nuclear kinetic-energy release of the recoiling ions. We have incorporated quantum chemistry calculations to interpret which of the electronic states of the dication have been populated and trace the various subsequent fragmentation channels. We suggest pathways that involve the electronic ground and excited states of the precursor ethylene dication and explore the strong influence of the conical intersections between the different electronic states. The nondissociative ionization yield is small in ethylene and high in acetylene when compared with the dissociative ionization channels. The reason for such a striking difference is explained in part on the basis of a propensity rule that influences the population of states in the photo-double-ionization of a centrosymmetric closed-shell molecule by favoring singlet ungerade and triplet gerade final states. This propensity rule and the calculated potential-energy surfaces clarify a picture of the dynamics leading to the observed dication dissociation products. © 2014 American Physical Society.

Authors with CRIS profile

Philipp Pelz

Involved external institutions

University of California, Berkeley US United States (USA) (US) Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main DE Germany (DE) Kansas State University US United States (USA) (US) Auburn University US United States (USA) (US) Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Gaire, B., Lee, S.Y., Haxton, D.J., Bocharova, I., Sturm, F.P., Gehrken, N.,... Pelz, P.M. (2014). Photo-double-ionization of ethylene and acetylene near threshold. Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 89(1). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.89.013403

MLA:

Gaire, B., et al. "Photo-double-ionization of ethylene and acetylene near threshold." Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics 89.1 (2014).

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