Anisotropy of fragment ions from SF6 by photoexcitation between 23 and 210 eV

Coincident velocity map image reconstruction illustrated by the single-photon valence photoionisation of CF3SF5

Photoion–photoelectron kinetic energy and angular anisotropy correlation maps reveal new details about the ionization mechanism.

Photoionization and Photofragmentation of SF6 in Helium Nanodroplets

The photoionization of He droplets doped with SF6 was investigated using tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron radiation from the Advanced Light Source (ALS). The resulting ionization and photofragmentation dynamics were characterized using time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with photofragment and photoelectron imaging. Results are compared to those of gas-phase SF6 molecules. We find dissociative photoionization to SF5+ to be the dominant channel, in agreement with previous results. Key new findings are that (a) the photoelectron spectrum of the SF6 in the droplet is similar but not identical to that of the gas-phase species, (b) the SF5+ photofragment velocity distribution is considerably slower upon droplet photoionization, and (c) fragmentation to SF4+ and SF3+ is much less than in the photoionization of bare SF6. From these measurements we obtain new insights into the mechanism of SF6 photoionization within the droplet and the cooling of the hot photofragment ions produced by dissociative photoionization.

Time dependent density functional study of the photoionization dynamics of SF6

The B-spline linear combination of atomic orbitals method has been employed to study the valence and core photoionization dynamics of SF6. The cross section and asymmetry parameter profiles calculated at the time dependent density functional theory level have been found to be in fairly nice agreement with the experimental data, with the quality of the exchange-correlation statistical average of orbital potential results superior to the Van Leeuwen-Baerends 94 (LB94) ones [Phys. Rev. A 49, 2421 (1994)]. The role of response effects has been identified by a comparison of the time dependent density functional theory results with the Kohn-Sham ones interchannel coupling effects and autoionization resonances play an important role at low kinetic energies. Prominent shape resonances features have been analyzed in terms of "dipole prepared" continuum orbitals and interpreted as due to a large angular momentum centrifugal barrier as well as anisotropic (nonspherical) molecular effective potential. Finally, the method has been proven numerically stable, robust, and efficient, thanks to a noniterative implementation of the time dependent density functional theory equations and suitability of the multicentric B-spline basis set to describe continuum states from outer valence to deep core states.