The photodissociation of tert-butyl nitrite at 193 nm

The photodissociation of tert-butyl nitrite, (CH3)(3)CONO, at 193 nm, is examined by a new experimental setup for photofragment imaging. Probing nascent NO fragments time delayed (several mu s) and spatially displaced (relative to the dissociation event) by planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) yields quantum state specific velocity distributions. In this way the internal and the translational energy distributions are determined simultaneously, permitting a very detailed understanding of the energy partitioning of the available energy among the product degrees of freedom and allowing one to analyze correlated product formation. The results differ very strongly from previous photodissociation studies of aliphatic nitrites performed at smaller photon energies, since a different dissociation channel is taken. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)00110-5].