Ion-pair formation dynamics of F(2) at 18.385 eV studied by velocity map imaging method.

We studied the ion-pair formation dynamics of F2 at 18.385 eV (67.439 nm) using the velocity map imaging method. It was found that there are two dissociation channels corresponding to production of F(+)((1)D(2)) + F(-)((1)S(0)) and F(+)((3)P(j)) + F(-)((1)S(0)). The measured center-of-mass translational energy distribution shows that about 98% of the dissociation occurs via the F(+)((1)D(2)) channel. The measured angular distributions of the photofragments indicate that dissociation for the F(+)((3)P(j)) channel occurs via predissociation of Rydberg states converging to F(2)(+)(A(2)Pi(u)) and dissociation for the F(+)((1)D(2)) channel involves mainly a direct perpendicular transition into the ion-pair state, or X(1)Sigma(g)(+) --> 2(1)Pi(u), which is also supported by the transition dipole moment calculations .