Mass identification of negative ions in excimer-laser-irradiated triethylamine: atomic rearrangements in electron attachment to highly excited states

Efficient negative-ion formation via electron attachment to triethylamine (TEA) laser-excited to energies above its ionization potential had been reported; however, the evidence for negative-ion formation was indirect, and the identities of the negative ions were not known. In this Letter, we describe an apparatus where the negative (and positive) ions produced in a gas cell via laser irradiation can be extracted to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer for mass identification and present the results obtained for excimer-laser-irradiated TEA. It is shown that extensive atomic rearrangements can occur in dissociative electron attachment to highly excited states of polyatomic molecules.