title: Observation of accurate ion dissociation thresholds in pulsed field ionization-photoelectron studies.
abstract: We report the first observation, together with a mechanism for such an observation, of a steplike feature in the pulsed field ionization photoelectron measurement of CH4(C2H2), marking the 0 K dissociation threshold for the formation of CH3(+) + H(C2H(+) + H) from CH4(C2H2). The nonexistence of a step in the spectrum for C 2H4 at its dissociation threshold for C2H2(+) formation provides strong support for the proposed mechanism. This experiment shows that, for a range of molecules, where the ion dissociation lifetimes near the dissociation thresholds are <10(-7) s, pulsed field ionization photoelectron measurements will yield not only highly accurate ionization energies, but also 0 K dissociation thresholds.
authors.affiliation: Freie Universität Berlin Institut für Chemie, Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Takustrasse 3, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Weitzel
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Jarvis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malow
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Ng