PHOTODISSOCIATION OF ORIENTED MOLECULES: APPLICATION TO THE $N_{2}-HF$ COMPLEX

Author Institution: Dept. of Chemistry, University of North CarolinaDue to their highly non-statistical behavior, weakly bound complexes provide us with an interesting class of molecules for study unimolecular dissociation. We have developed a number of new methods for studying the photodissociation of these specieshave resulting from infrared excitation. Recently we have made use of large DC electric fields to orient the parent complex prior to dissociation. This talk will outline the influence this initial orientation has on the photofragment angular distributions measured using a rotatable optothermal instrument. A number of systems will be discussed, with the emphasis being on the $N_{2}-HF$ complex for which we now have a complete assignment of the final rotational/vibrational/translational state distributions of both fragments, along with the intermolecular scalar correlations. Conservation of energy is then used to determine the dissociation energy of the complex