A two-color three-photon ionization scheme for the efficient and selective ionization of a chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbon.

A two-color three-photon ionization scheme, for the efficient and selective ionization of a chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbon that has an ionization potential higher than the two-photon energy of the laser used for excitation, is described. In this technique, an ultraviolet (UV) laser, i.e., the second harmonic emission of a fundamental (VIS) laser, is used for excitation and a UV and VIS laser for the subsequent two-photon ionization from the electronic excited state. A sample of o-chlorophenol was used as a model compound to demonstrate the advantage of this technique. The signal in supersonic jet/resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization/mass spectrometry was increased approximately 4 times by the introduction of the VIS beam, when the polarization was adjusted to be parallel to the UV beam. Thus, the two-color three-photon (2UV+VIS) ionization scheme is more sensitive than one-color three-photon (3UV) ionization. The merits of this method over other ionization schemes such as two-color two-photon (UV(1)+UV(2)) ionization are discussed in terms of sensitivity and selectivity in spectrometric analysis.