Photon stimulated desorption from KI: Laser control of I-atom velocity distributions

Irradiation of cleaved KI single crystals with photons near the bulk absorption threshold between 5.1 and 6.0 eV produces hyper-thermal I(2P3/2) emission with a minor thermal component, and with little spin orbit excited I(2P1/2) emission. The I-atom kinetic energy distribution may be tuned by choice of photon energy indicating that control of photon energy and pulse power can produce I-atoms in selectable quantities and velocity distributions.