Photofragment alignment in the photodissociation of I-2 from 450 to 510 nm

A combination of velocity map imaging and slicing techniques have been used to measure the product recoil anisotropy and angular momentum polarization for the photodissociation process I-2-> I(P-2(3/2))+I(P-2(3/2)) and I-2-> I(P-2(3/2))+I(P-2(1/2)) in the 450-510 nm laser wavelength region using linearly polarized photolysis and probe laser light. The former channel is produced predominantly via perpendicular excitation to the (1)Pi(u) state, and the latter is predominantly parallel, via the B (3)Pi(0(u))(+) state. In both cases we observe mostly adiabatic dissociation, which produces electronically aligned iodine atoms in the parallel to m parallel to=1/2 states with respect to the recoil direction. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics