Jbm. Warntjes et Ld. Noordam, Measuring the predissociation and rotational autoionization of the vibrationless Rydberg series in ammonia, J CHEM PHYS, 115(9), 2001, pp. 4150-4155
A novel method is presented to retrieve the average predissociation rate an
d the average rotational autoionization rate of a molecule by measuring the
field ionization spectrum only, Both an intuitive picture and a quantitati
ve description are derived for the competition between the three decay chan
nels. field ionization. rotational autoionization, and predissociation. Fie
ld ionization spectra of various rotational states of ammonia are presented
and fitted. From the fits we found that the average predissociation rate o
f the Rydberg series converging to the vibrationless N+ = 3 ionic state is
about equal to the average rotational autoionization rate to the Rydberg se
ries converging to the vibrationless N+ = 2 ionic state. namely 1 x 10(15)/
n(3) s(-1). (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.