Chemical Spectroscopy And Photochemistry In The Vacuum Ultraviolet

It is probably safe to predict that the future of chemistry is linked to the excited states of molecules and to other short lived species, ions and free radicals. Molecules have only one ground state but many excited states. However large the scope of normal, ground state chemistry might be, above and beyond it lies the world of excited states, each one having its own chemis try. The electronic transitions leading to the excited states, either discrete of continuous, are examined in molecular elec tronic spectroscopy. Electronic spectroscopy is the queen of all spectroscopies: for if we have the resolution we have everything. Vnfortunately, the chemist who is interested in the structure and reactions of larger molecules must often renounce all that infor mation. The spectra are complex and often diffuse; resolution does not always help. To understand such spectra he must look at whole families of molecules; to some extent structural analogies help. Let us call this chemical spectroscopy and handle it with care. In order to understand the properties of molecules we also need theory. We know that molecular problems are, in principle, soluble by the methods of quantum mechanics. Present time quan tum chemistry is able to provide a nearly accurate description of not too large molecules in their ground states. It is probablY again safe to predict that the future of quantum chemistry is connected with molecular excited states or, generally spoken, the accurate handling of the open-shell problem.

This volume contains the texts of the Invited Lectures pre sented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute PHOTOPHYSICS AND PHOTOCHEMISTRY IN THE VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET, which was held at the Interlaken Lodge in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin USA, August 15-28, 1982. This ASI was the third in a series of NATO Institutes de voted to a study of the physical and chemical transformations undergone by atoms and molecules after absorption of high-energy (VUV

This monograph reviews the recent progress in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization and photodissociation processes. Photoionization, photoelectron, and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques have played an important role in revealing the photoionization and photodissociation dynamics of molecules in the vacuum ultraviolet region and in providing accurate energetic and spectroscopic information of ions as well as neutral molecules. The book represents the first detailed review of major experimental developments in the studies of single vacuum ultraviolet photon ionization and dissociation processes of gaseous molecules and clusters.

This volume is for practitioners, experimentalists, and graduate students in applied physics, particularly in the fields of atomic and molecular physics, who work with vacuum ultraviolet applications and are in need of choosing the best type of modern instrumentation. It provides first-hand knowledge of the state-of-the-art equipment sources and gives technical information on how to use it, along with a broad reference bibliography.