PHOTOELECTRON ANGULAR-DISTRIBUTION OF SIMPLE MOLECULES AT 30.4 NM PHOTONS

The asymmetry parameter (β) of angular distribution of photoelectrons has been obtained with He(I) (58.4 nm) and He(II) (30.4 nm) resonance radiation for several simple compounds (N2, O2, H2O, CO2 and CS2), in order to examine how the β value depends on the excitation energy. It has been found that on going from He(I) to He(II) radiation the energy dependence of β for the nonbonding orbitals of triatomic molecules is similar to that obtained theoretically by Manson for the corresponding atomic p shells. For N2 it has also been found that there is essentially no difference in β values between two vibrational peaks (υ′= 0 and 1) of the first ionisation band in the He(II) spectrum, whereas in the He(I) spectrum an anomalous variation is observed in the β values between the two peaks as originally indicated by Carlson. These results support the interpretation of the autoionisation mechanism suggested by Mintz and Kuppermann. © 1979.