Vibrationally resolved K-­shell photoionization of CO with circularly polarized light: an ultrasensitive probe of the molecular potential

T. JAHNKE, L. FOUCAR, J. TITZE, R. WALLAUER, W. ARNOLD, O. JAGUTZK, L. Ph. H. SCHMIDT, A. CZASCH, A. STAUDTE, M. SCHÖFFLER, H. SCHMIDT-BÖCKING, R. DÖRNER
(IKF U. Frankfurt),

S. K. SEMENOV, N. A. CHEREPKOV
(State U. of Aerospace Instrumentation, St. Petersburg),

T. OSIPOV, E. P. BENIS, A. ALNASER, C. L. COCKE
(Kansas State U.),

M. H. PRIOR
(Lawrence Berkeley Nat. Lab.)

A low energy (< 4 eV) carbon ­K-­photoelectron wave created inside a CO molecule by absorption of a circularly polarized photon is used to probe the molecular potential. The measurements resolve the vibrational states of the K-­shell ionized CO^+ molecule and display the photoelectron diffraction patterns in the molecular frame. These show significant variation for the different vibrational states indicating high sensitivity to small changes in the molecular potential. This effect is stronger than predicted by state of the art theory. As this study is performed close to C ­K-­threshold, i.e far below the molecule's \sigma shape resonance, this surprisingly strong effect is not related to that resonance phenomenon.

This work was supported by the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division,
Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.

Submitted to DAMOP, May 2004 in Tucson, AZ.

 

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