A Mechanism for the Photodissociation of Carbon Monoxide at 193 nm

The photodissociation of carbon monoxide at 193 nm has been investigated using resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization detection of atomic oxygen and carbon fragments. The results of these experiments indicate a quadratic photodissociation process in CO at 12.8 eV. In addition, the nascent fine structure branching ratios of atomic oxygen 2p4 (3p 2,1,0) produced in the 193-nm photodissociation of CO are reported using both multiphoton laser-induced fluorescence and ionization detection. Analysis of the experimental data and computer-generated simulations indicate that the distributions are not statistical. carbon monoxide, photodissociation, oxygen atoms.