REMPI measurements ionization

In the ideal case for REMPI, the efficiency of ion production is proportional to the line strength factors for 2-photon excitation [M], since the ionization step can be taken to have a wavelength- and state-mdependent efficiency. In actual practice, fragment ions can be produced upon absorption of a fouitli photon, or the ionization efficiency can be reduced tinough predissociation of the electronically excited state. It is advisable to employ experimentally measured ionization efficiency line strengdi factors to calibrate the detection sensitivity. With sufficient knowledge of the excited molecular electronic states, it is possible to understand the state dependence of these intensity factors [65]. 

For ion TOF measurement a probe laser was used to ionize reaction products in the reaction zone. The (1 + F) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) method was adapted for H-atom detection. The necessary vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation near 121.6 nm (for Lyman-a transition) can readily be generated by a frequency-tripling technique in a Kr cell.37 The sensitivity of this (1 +1 ) REMPI detection scheme is extremely high owing to the large absorption cross-section of Lyman-a transition,... 

The vibration spectrum of the first excited state of guanine was measured using laser desorption jet-cooled resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectrometry <1999JA4896>. The millimeter wave spectrum of purine was collected using a free jet spectrometer, and the observed rotational spectrum was assigned to the N(9)-H tautomer <1996CPL189>. 

Table 11.5 summarizes some potential REMPI processes for the measurement of species of atmospheric interest (Pfab, 1995). This ionization technique clearly has a great deal of potential, although to date it has not been applied extensively to measurements in ambient air. 

A technique that has been used in laboratory studies for oxides of nitrogen and shows promise for field measurements is resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) (Guizard et al., 1989 Lemire et al., 1993 Simeonsson et al., 1994). For example, Akimoto and co-workers (Lee et al., 1997) have reported a REMPI system in which a (1 + 1) two-photon absorption of light at 226 nm by NO results in ionization (vide supra). They report a detection limit of 16 ppt in their laboratory studies. Other oxides of nitrogen such as NOz and HN03 can also photodissociate in the... 

Photolysis of the dimer, reaction (44), proceeds primarily via generation of Cl + ClOO (Cox and Hayrnan, 1988 Molina et al., 1990). For example, Molina et al. (1990) reported the quantum yield for this channel at 308 nm to be unity, with an uncertainty of 30%. Okumura and co-workers (Moore et al., 1999) and Schindler and co-workers (Schmidt et al., 1998) have reported that the quantum yield is less than 1.0. For example, Schmidt et al. (1998) used resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) with time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry to follow the production of oxygen and chlorine atoms as well as CIO in vibrational levels up to v" = 5 in the photolysis of the dimer. At a photolysis wavelength of 250 nm, the quantum yield for chlorine atom production was measured to be 0.65 + 0.15, but CIO was not observed. Assuming that all of the excited dimer dissociates, this suggests that the production of CIO in vibrational... 

Tunable laser spectroscopic techniques such as laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) or resonantly enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) are well-established mature fields in gas-phase spectroscopy and dynamics, and their application to gas-surface dynamics parallels their use elsewhere. The advantage of these techniques is that they can provide exceedingly sensitive detection, perhaps more so than mass spectrometers. In addition, they are detectors of individual quantum states and hence can measure nascent internal state population distributions produced via the gas-surface dynamics. The disadvantage of these techniques is that they are not completely general. Only some interesting molecules have spectroscopy amenable to be detected sensitively in this fashion, e.g., H2, N2, NO, CO, etc. Other interesting molecules, e.g. 02, CH4, etc., do not have suitable spectroscopy. However, when applicable, the laser spectroscopic techniques are very powerful. 

A typical application is the use of the (2 + 1) REMPI scheme for measuring the (v,./) distribution of H2 produced in associative desorption from a surface. When the laser is tuned to a spectroscopic transition between individual quantum states in the X -> E electronic band, resonant two-photon absorption populates the E state and this is subsequently ionized by absorption of another photon. The ion current is proportional to the number in the specific (v,./) quantum state in the ground electronic state that is involved in the spectroscopic transition. Tuning the laser to another spectroscopic feature probes another (v, J) state. Therefore, recording the ion current as the laser is scanned over the electronic band maps out the population distribution of H2(v, J) produced in the associative desorption. Ef of the (v, J) state can also often be simultaneously measured using field - free ion TOF or laser pump - probe TOF detection techniques. The (2 +1) REMPI scheme for detecting H2 is almost independent of the rotational alignment and orientation f(M) of molecules so that only relative populations of the internal states... 

The present work comprises of a first step towards this goal and involves measured photoelectron spectra of trans-Stilbene following the excitation with tuneable femtosecond UV laser pulses. The ionization process occurs in a (1+1) REMPI scheme, using the first excited singlet state (Si) of trans-Stilbene as an intermediate resonance. 

Various forms of radiation have been used to produce ions in sufficient quantitites to yield neutral products for subsequent analysis. In principle, it should be possible to use intense beams of UV below ionization threshold for this purpose. To date, however, efforts to collect neutrals from resonant multiphoton ionization (REMPI) have not succeeded. In one experiment, 1 mbar of gaseous -propyl phenyl ether was irradiated at room temperature with a 0.1 W beam of 266 nm ultraviolet (from an 800 Hz laser that gives 8 n pulses) concurrent with a 0.5 W beam at 532 nm. The beams were intense enough not only to ionize the ether in the mass spectrometer, but also to excite it so that it expels propene. After several hours of irradiation < 10% of the starting material remained. Production of carbon monoxide and acetylene (decomposition products of the phenoxy group) could be detected by infrared absorption spectroscopy, but the yield of neutral propene (as measured by NMR spectroscopy) was infinitesimal. 

More detailed investigations [118] included a deeper look at the SO rovibrational spectrum and a resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) analysis of the methyl radicals. These resulted in total rovibrational energies for the fragments. The translational energy component was not measured. The quantum yield for formation of SO in its ground electronic state ( Z) was unity within experimental error. Evidence for two types of methyl radicals, as might be expected for stepwise decomposition, was not found, so the authors suggested that the three-body dissociation pathway was dominant [118]. 

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