Km. Weitzel et al., Observation of accurate ion dissociation thresholds in pulsed field ionization-photoelectron studies, PHYS REV L, 86(16), 2001, pp. 3526-3529
We report the first observation, together with a mechanism far such an obse
rvation, of a steplike feature in the pulsed field ionization photoelectron
measurement of CH4(C2H2), marking the 0 K dissociation threshold for the f
ormation of CH3+ + H(C2H+ + H) from CH4(C2H2) The nonexistence of a step in
the spectrum for C2H4 at its dissociation threshold for C2H2+ formation pr
ovides strong support for the proposed mechanism. This experiment shows tha
t, for a range of molecules, where the ion dissociation lifetimes near the
dissociation thresholds are <10(-7) s, pulsed field ionization photoelectro
n measurements will yield not only highly accurate ionization energies, but
also 0 K dissociation thresholds.