PHOTODETACHMENT OF SF6-

The photodetachment cross section for SF6- and the photodetachment thr eshold for this process have been accurately measured using a newly de veloped technique. The photodetachment cross section has a threshold a t 3.16 eV which is about three times larger than the electron affinity of the SF, molecule. The magnitude of the photodetachment cross secti on increases monotonically from the threshold to 1.0 X 10(-18)cm(2) at a photon energy of 3.46 eV. The small size of the measured cross sect ion is attributed to the large relaxation in the equilibrium internucl ear positions of SF6- compared to SF6; the analysis of the data indica tes that the photoejected electron has an angular momentum quantum num ber l = 1.