Physical Chemistry Commons^™

Photodissociation Dynamics In Titan's Atmosphere, Welvidanalage Ruchira Silva

Wayne State University Dissertations

Photodissociation dynamics of molecules relevant to understanding Titan's atmosphere (diacetylene, cyanoacetylene and heptane isomers) are carried out under collisionless condition using the DC slice imaging technique. In diacetylene photodissociation, two-photon processes dominate at 243 nm and 212 nm whereas at 121.6 nm, a one-photon dissociation process dominates. Direct measurement of the lifetime of metastable triplet diacetylene confirms sub-microsecond lifetimes. Photodissociation of cyanoacetylene at 193.3 nm proceeds on the S1 potential energy surface with an exit barrier. In heptane photodissociation, the dissociation occurs on the ground state or low-lying triplet states with nonradiative electronic relaxation. Time-of-flight mass spectroscopy studies in this …