Dissociative photoionization dynamics of SF6 by ion imaging with synchrotron undulator radiation

The technique of photofragment imaging, widely used in the study of neutral photochemistry, has been adapted to use on a vacuum ultraviolet undulator beamline at the advanced light source, affording a new approach to the study of dissociative ionization processes. The technique allows direct inversion of the raw data to yield angular and translational energy distributions for the product ions. The method is applied here to study the dissociative ionization of SF6 at photon energies from 15 to 28 eV. The experiment allows for detailed characterization of the angular and translational energy distributions of the fragments, providing insight into the decay mechanisms of these excited ionic states.