APPLICATION OF THE TIME-DEPENDENT WAVEPACKET METHOD TO MASS-SPECTROMETRIC STUDIES OF MOLECULAR-EXCITATION AND DISSOCIATION

A new time-dependent wavepacket approach has been applied to illustrat e a rigorous method of calculating the transition function for bound-t o-continuum transitions in translational energy spectrometric experime nts. The method is numerically exact and fully quantal, and is devoid of any classical or semi-classical approximations. The validity of the hitherto-apptied reflection approximation is investigated in a compar ative study. The method has been applied to two different translationa l energy spectrometry experiments: collision-induced dissociation of C O+ and collisional excitation of H-2.