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M H Prior

Publications and source records attributed to M H Prior.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Photoelectron-photoion momentum spectroscopy as a clock for chemical rearrangements: isomerization of the di-cation of acetylene to the vinylidene configuration.

We have used complete correlated momentum mapping of the photoelectron and heavy ion products from the dissociation of the di-cation of acetylene, induced by photoionizing the carbon K shell of one of the atoms, to map out the angular correlation between the electron and the axis of the target molecule. The (quasi-) symmetric decay is found to proceed through both acetylene and vinylidene configurations. By using the strongly peaked photoelectron emission to "start a clock," an upper limit of 60 fs is placed on the isomerization time from the acetylene to the vinylidene configuration.

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Auger electron emission from fixed-in-space CO.

We have measured the angular distribution of carbon K-Auger electrons from fixed in space, core-ionized, CO molecules in coincidence with the kinetic energy release of the C+ and O+ fragments. We find a very narrow ejection of Auger electrons in the direction of the oxygen and an oscillatory diffraction pattern. Even for similar electron energies, the angular distribution strongly depends on the symmetry of the final state.

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Mechanisms of photo double ionization of helium by 530 eV photons.

We have measured fully differential cross sections for photo double ionization of helium 450 eV above the threshold. We have found an extremely asymmetric energy sharing between the photoelectrons and an angular asymmetry parameter beta approximately 2 and beta approximately 0 for the fast and slow electrons, respectively. The electron angular distributions show a dominance of the shakeoff for 2 eV electrons and clear evidence of an inelastic electron-electron scattering at an electron energy of 30 eV. The data are in excellent agreement with convergent close-coupling calculations.

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Circular dichroism in K-shell ionization from fixed-in-space CO and N2 molecules.

We have measured the angular distributions of 1s photoelectrons excited by circularly and linearly polarized light from fixed-in-space CO and N2 molecules, in the vicinity of their shape resonances. A strong circular dichroism, i.e., a strong dependence on the sense of rotation of the polarization vector of the photons, is found for both molecules. State-of-the-art one-electron multiple scattering and partially correlated random phase approximation calculations are in good agreement with many, but not all, aspects of the experimental data.

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Photoelectron diffraction mapping: molecules illuminated from within.

We demonstrate the use of a multiparticle coincidence technique to image the diffraction of an electron wave whose source is placed at a specific site in a free molecule. Core-level photoelectrons are used to illuminate the molecule from within. By measuring the vector momenta of two molecular fragments and the photoelectron, a richly structured electron diffraction pattern is obtained in a body-fixed frame of the randomly oriented molecule in the gas phase. We illustrate this technique for CO, creating a photoelectron from the C(1s) shell and scanning its energy from zero to 30 eV.

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