Excitation laser fluence effects on the Ba⋯FCH3+hν→BaF+CH3 intracluster reaction

In this work, results on the Ba⋯FCH3+hν→BaF (Ba∗)+CH3 (CH3F) reaction obtained under high laser field conditions are reported. We have found that the two-photodissociation channel yields, i.e. the reactive BaF and non-reactive Ba∗ products, exhibited opposite behaviour depending upon the laser fluence. Whereas the BaF yield rises as the laser fluence is increased, the Ba∗ yield decreases over the same laser fluence range. In other words, the product (Ba∗)/(BaF) branching ratio changes significantly from low to high laser fluence in such a way that the (photoinitiated) Ba⋯FCH3→BaF+CH3 reaction may be controlled by changing the intensity of the excitation laser field.