Nonstatistical spin dynamics in photodissociation of H2O at 157nm

Abstract

Photodissociation of H2O via the A band at 157nm has been reinvestigated using the high resolution H atom Rydberg tagging technique. The spin-orbit population distributions were found to be highly nonstatistical for the OH(v=0,1,2) product channels, while nearly statistical for the OH(v=4) channel. These results suggest that the dissociation dynamics of H2O at 157nm is remarkably different for different vibrationally excited OH channels. The result presented here is not entirely consistent with the direct dynamical picture of the A band dissociation of H2O.