DECAY OF CS2 AND OCS AFTER SULFUR IS PHOTOEXCITATION .2. DISSOCIATIONCHANNELS AND KINEMATICS

CS2 and OCS molecules were excited and fragmented by x-rays of variabl e energy around the sulphur Is threshold (2478 eV). Coincident detecti on of three ionic fragments by a time-of-flight mass spectrometer enab led the determination of branching ratios for 18 dissociation channels with total ionic charges between 2 and 7. While the electronic de-exc itation is similar in both molecules (see the preceding paper), the di ssociation shows differences, notably a more asymmetric distribution o f charge onto the fragments of OCS. Branching among channels of the sa me total charge is independent of photon energy although the dominant de-excitation cascades are not. This is interpreted as an indication o f strong interchannel mixing. A simple, parameter-free Coulomb explosi on model to simulate the dissociative kinematics is described. Detaile d results based on this model give, contrary to opinions to be found i n the literature, very good agreement with observed momentum correlati ons whereas maximum kinetic energies are somewhat overestimated for ch annels of higher total charge.