State-to-State Spectroscopy and Dynamics of Ions and Neutrals by Photoionization and Photoelectron Methods

Recent advances in high-resolution photoionization, photoelectron, and photodissociation studies based on single-photon vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and two-color infrared (IR)-VUV, visible (Vis)-ultraviolet (UV), and VUV-VUV laser excitations are illustrated with selected examples. VUV laser photoionization coupled with velocity-map-imaging threshold photoelectron (VMI-TPE) detection can achieve comparable energy resolution but has higher-detection sensitivities than those observed in VUV laser pulsed field ionization photoelectron (PFI-PE) measurements. For molecules with known intermediate states, IR-VUV and Vis-UV excitation schemes are highly sensitive for rovibronically selected and resolved PFI-PE studies. The successful applications of the VUV-PFI-PE, VUV-VMI-TPE, and Vis-UV-PFI-PE methods to state-resolved and state-to-state photoelectron studies of transient radicals and transitional metal–containing molecules are highlighted. The most recently established VUV-VUV pump-probe time-slice VMI photoion method is shown to be promising for state-to-state photodissociation studies of small molecules relevant to planetary atmospheres and for the fundamental understanding of photodissociation dynamics.