STATE-SELECTED PHOTODISSOCIATION OF D2O

The effect of selective vibrational preparation of the parent on its absorption cross section and on the vibrational distribution of the photofragments is studied in D2O, Rovibrationally excited D2O molecules are prepared in the \03](-) state by infrared excitation and photolyzed via the A(B-1(1)) state by 193 nm photons. The OD fragments are detected by laser-induced fluorescence. The approximate to 1 eV vibrational excitation of D2O results in a five orders of magnitude increase in the absorption cross section and its subsequent photolysis yields OD with (v=1)/(v=0)=0.39+/-0.07. The significant population of both vibrational states of OD may help in testing quantitative agreement between experiment and future theoretical studies of state-selected photodissociation.