Photodissociation and photodetachment of molecular negative ions. I. Ions formed in CO2/H2O mixtures

Abstract

A drift tube mass spectrometer and an argon ion laser have been used to study photon interactions with CO−3, CO−3⋅H2O, HCO−3, and HCO−3⋅H2O at discrete photon energies between 2.35 and 2.71 eV. CO−3 photodissociates into CO2+O− with a cross section which varies between 0.3 and 1.0×10−18 cm2 over this energy range. CO−3⋅H2O photodissociates into CO−3+H2O with a cross section near 2×10−18 cm2. HCO−3 and HCO−3⋅H2O have very small (and possibly zero) cross sections for photodestruction on this energy range.