The 193 nm photodissociation of HNO3 in a supersonic jet has been investiga
ted by LIF and REMPI-TOF techniques probing the OH(X-2 II) and the O(P-3) p
roducts, respectively. The measured rotational state distribution of OH is
shown to be dominated by a bimodal distribution consistent with the previou
sly reported bimodal translational energy distribution of OH. An additional
decay channel, yielding O(P-3) fragments with high kinetic energy, has bee
n observed and tentatively assigned to HNO3 + hv --> O(P-3) + HONO((X) over
tilde (1)A'). Energetic considerations indicate that about one third of th
e HONO products are unstable, decaying further to OH + NO. (C) 2001 Elsevie
r Science B.V. Ail rights reserved.