Photofragment Helicity Caused by Matter-Wave Interference from Multiple Dissociative States
T. Peter Rakitzis,
S. Alex Kandel,
Andrew
J. Alexander,
Zee Hwan Kim,
Richard N. Zare
*
Isolated diatomic molecules of iodine monochloride (ICl) were
photodissociated by a beam of linearly polarized light, and the
resulting ground-state Cl atom photofragments were detected by a method
that is sensitive to the handedness (helicity) of the electronic
angular momentum. It was found that this helicity oscillates between
"topspin" and "backspin" as a function of the wavelength of the
dissociating light. The helicity originates solely from the (de
Broglie) matter-wave interference of multiple dissociating pathways of
the electronic excited states of ICl. These measurements can be related
to the identity and to the detailed shapes of the dissociating
pathways, thus demonstrating that it is possible to probe repulsive
states by spectroscopic means.
Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
94305-5080, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
zare{at}stanford.edu
