Photodissociation and vibrational relaxation of I2− in ethanol

Abstract
The dissociation, internal conversion, and vibrational relaxation of photoexcited I2 in ethanol have been examined using ultrafast transient‐absorption spectroscopy. I2 was photoexcited at 770 nm (1.6 eV) and probed on the subpicosecond time scale at 15 wavelengths between 580 and 950 nm, permitting a determination of the temporal evolution of the absorption spectrum. The data reveal that internal conversion and vibrational relaxation at the top of the well are extremely rapid (≤0.3 ps), with loss of the final 0.3 eV of energy (v≤20) occurring on a time scale of ∼4 ps. Simple kinetic and spectral models are able to qualitatively account for the observed behavior of the transient‐absorption signals.