Nanosecond photofragment imaging of adiabatic molecular alignment.

Adiabatic alignment of CH(3)I, induced by the anisotropic interaction of this symmetric top molecule with the intense field of a nonresonant infrared laser pulse, has been studied using velocity map imaging. We are using photodissociation imaging with pulsed nanosecond lasers to probe the distribution of the molecular axis in the laboratory space. In contrast to the commonly used probing with femtosecond laser pulses, this technique directly yields the degree of alignment over an extended space-time volume.

Absolute photodetachment cross section measurements of the O(-) and OH(-) anion.

Absolute total photodetachment cross sections of O(-) and OH(-) anions stored in a multipole radio frequency trap have been measured using a novel laser depletion tomography method. For OH(-) the total cross sections of 8.5(1)(stat)(3)(syst) and 8.

Dynamical constraints and nuclear spin caused restrictions in HmD+ collision systems.

This contribution summarizes a variety of results and ongoing activities, which contribute to our understanding of inelastic and reactive collisions involving hydrogen ions. In an overview of our present theoretical knowledge of various HmD+ collision systems (m + n < or = 5), it is emphasized that although the required potential energy surfaces are well characterized, no detailed treatments of the collision dynamics are available to date, especially at the low energies required for astrochemistry. Instead of treating state-to-state dynamics with state of the art methods, predictions are still based on: (i) simple thermodynamical arguments, (ii) crude reaction models such as H atom exchange or proton jump, or (iii) statistical considerations used for describing processes proceeding via long-lived or strongly interacting collision complexes.

Action spectroscopy of H3+ and D2H+ using overtone excitation.

The H3+ ion and its deuterated isotopologues H2D+, D2H+ and D3+ play an important role in astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. The main challenge for understanding these ions and their interaction at low temperatures are state-specific experiments. This requires manipulation and a simple but efficient in situ characterization of their low-lying rotational states.

Investigating the breakup dynamics of dihydrogen sulfide ions recombining with electrons.

This paper presents results concerning measurements of the dissociative recombination (DR) of dihydrogen sulfide ions. In combination with the ion storage ring CRYRING an imaging technique was used to investigate the breakup dynamics of the three-body channel in the DR of 32SD2(+). The two energetically available product channels S(3P) + 2D(2S) and S(1D) + 2D(2S) were both populated, with a branching fraction of the ground-state channel of 0.