EXCITATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULES - PROBING THE DYNAMICS BY TRANSLATIONAL ENERGY SPECTROMETRY

High-resolution translational energy spectroscopy has been applied to the study of collision-induced excitation of neutral diatomic and poly atomic molecules using molecular projectile ions. Techniques to simula te the experimentally observed energy loss spectra are explored and in formation regarding the relative oscillator strengths to different ele ctronic states of the neutral targets has been obtained. The effects o f changing the quantal description of the projectile are studied and t he results are understood within the domain of wavefunction overlaps. Concomitant calculations of the wavefunction overlap of the highest oc cupied molecular orbitals of the collision partners yield results whic h are consistent with the experimental observations.