Ion Spectroscopy in the Context of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands: A Case Study with the Phenylacetylene Cation.

Identification of the molecular carriers of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) requires gas phase electronic spectra of suitable candidate structures. Recording the spectra of these in the laboratory is challenging because they include large, carbon-rich molecules, many of which are likely to be ionic. The electronic spectra of ions are often obtained using action spectroscopy methods, which can induce small perturbations to the absorption characteristics and hinder comparison with astronomical observations.

Exploring photoionization of gas-phase free radicals with a widely tunable VUV laser at moderate spectral resolution.

The VUv Laser for Considering Astrophysical and Isolated Molecules (VULCAIMs) setup [Harper et al., Phys. Chem.

The isomer distribution of CH products from the propargyl radical gas-phase recombination investigated by threshold-photoelectron spectroscopy.

The resonance-stabilization of the propargyl radical (CH) makes it among the most important reactive intermediates in extreme environments and grants it a long enough lifetime to recombine in both terrestrial combustion media and cold molecular clouds in space. This makes the propargyl self-reaction a pivotal step in the formation of benzene, the first aromatic ring, to eventually lead to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a variety of environments. In this work, by producing propargyl radicals in a flow tube where propyne reacted with F atoms and probing the reaction products by mass-selected threshold-photoelectron spectroscopy (TPES), we identified eight CH products in total, including benzene.

Resonant Auger decay of iodobenzene below the I 4d edge.

New data are presented on the resonant Auger decay of iodobenzene (C6H5I) in the region of the I 4d-1 ionization threshold. The excited molecules decay by participator and spectator processes to populate single-hole valence states and two-hole, one-particle excited states of the cation, providing new information on the structure of C6H5I+. Excitation of dissociative C6H5I (I 4d5/2,3/2-1)σ* resonances can, in principle, result in ultrafast dissociation to C6H5 + I** and the subsequent autoionization of I**, but no evidence for this process is observed.

Experimental characterization of SiCH+via single-photon ionization of gas-phase SiCH.

SiCH and its cation have consistently emerged as predicted species in models of silicon chemistry within the interstellar medium, although they remain unobserved in space. Hindered by their intrinsic instability, no spectroscopic insights have been gleaned concerning the SiCH+ cation. In this study, we present experimental measurements on the SiCH+ cation through single-photon ionization spectroscopy of the SiCH radical within the 8.