C6- electronic relaxation dynamics probed via time-resolved photoelectron imaging.

Anion time-resolved photoelectron imaging has been used to investigate the electronic relaxation dynamics of C(6) (-) following excitation of the C (2)Pi(g)<--X (2)Pi(u) and 2 (2)Pi(g)<--X (2)Pi(u) 0(0) (0) transitions at 607 and 498 nm, respectively. Analysis of evolving photodetachment energy distributions reveals differing relaxation pathways from these prepared states. Specifically, the C (2)Pi(g) 0(0) level relaxes on a time scale of 620+/-30 fs to vibrationally hot ( approximately 2.0 eV) anion ground state both directly and indirectly through vibrationally excited levels of the intermediate-lying A (2)Sigma(g) (+) state that decay with a time scale of 2300+/-200 fs. In contrast, the 2 (2)Pi(g) 0(0) level relaxes much more quickly (<100 fs) to vibrationally hot ( approximately 2.5 eV) anion ground state directly and with transient population accumulation in the A (2)Sigma(g) (+), B (2)Sigma(u) (+), and C (2)Pi(g) electronic levels, as determined by spectral and time-scale analyses. This work also presents the experimental observation of the optically inaccessible B (2)Sigma(u) (+) state, which is found to have an electronic term value of 1.41+/-0.05 eV.