PHOTOFRAGMENT TRANSLATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY

Photofragment translational spectroscopy (PTS) is a technique for stud ying the mechanisms and the dynamics of photodissociation processes un der collision-free conditions. After a brief introduction to the metho dology of PTS, a high-performance apparatus developed in our laborator y is described. Various applications are then presented to demonstrate the versatility of this technique. Examples include studies of the ph otodissociation dynamics of small molecules and the investigation of d ecomposition mechanisms in atmospherically important molecules.