Dissociative photodetachment dynamics of O2− · (H2O)

The dynamics of dissociative photodetachment in O2− · (H2O) were studied using the technique of fast-beam photofragment translational spectroscopy. The kinetic energy and angular distributions of the neutral molecules produced by dissociative photodetachment (O2− · (H2O) + hv → O2 + H2O + e−) were recorded at 523.6, 349.0 and 261.8 nm. Dissociative photodetachment is observed to occur at all of these wavelengths with nearly identical kinetic energy release. The product angular distributions from dissociative photodetachment are slightly anisotropic and exhibit a small wavelength dependence. These results suggests that dissociative photodetachment of O2− · (H2O) occurs via Franck-Condon excitation to a weakly repulsive region of the O2 · (H2O) potential energy surface.