USING VECTOR CORRELATION TO PROBE THE INFLUENCE OF VIBRATIONAL-STATE SELECTION ON THE PHOTODISSOCIATION DYNAMICS OF HN3

State-selected photodissociation of hydrozoic acid is investigated by vibrationally exciting the molecule in the region of the second overto ne of its N-H stretching motion (3v(1)) and then photodissociating it using 532 nm light. Measurement of the resulting NH fragment rotationa l state distribution and vector correlation reveals that photodissocia tion from initial nuclear configurations with an extended N-H bond lea ds to a substantially hotter rotational state distribution as well as a more pronounced [(v) over right arrow,(j) over right arrow] correlat ion than from nearly isoenergetic single-photon dissociation at 355 nm . These observations are interpreted as indicating that the region of the excited electronic surface accessed and hence the forces experienc ed by the molecule are different in the two isoenergetic photodissocia tion experiments.