An investigation of the 355 nm photodissociation of NO2 by state-resolved photofragment imaging

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Abstract
The 355 nm photodissociation of NO2 cooled in a supersonic beam has been investigated by state‐resolved photofragment imaging. The NO and O(3PJ) photofragments were state‐selectively ionized and projected onto a two‐dimensional, position‐sensitive detector to obtain speed and angular distributions. The speed distribution of the O(3P2) fragment displays two peaks corresponding to oxygen produced in coincidence with NO(υ=0) and NO(υ=1). The angular distributions for the O(3P2) and for the NO in several vibrational and rotational levels can be characterized by an anisotropy parameter of β=1.2±0.3. This value, while higher than that measured previously, is consistent with a dissociation lifetime on the order of 200–400 fs and with the colder rotational temperature of the current beam experiment. The rotational distributions of the NO product are found to be in good agreement with other recent measurements.