# Photofragmentation dynamics and dissociation energies of MoO and CrO

## TL;DR

This study uses velocity map imaging to investigate the photofragmentation dynamics and dissociation energies of MoO and CrO molecules, providing detailed insights into their fragmentation pathways and energy thresholds.

## Contribution

It introduces a specialized velocity map imaging setup for neutral metal-containing molecules and reports precise dissociation energies for MoO and CrO.

## Key findings

- Dissociation into specific atomic quantum states identified.
- Ground state dissociation energies precisely measured.
- Multiple product channels observed at different photon levels.

## Abstract

Neutral metal-containing molecules and clusters present a particular challenge to velocity map imaging techniques. Common methods of choice for producing such species such as laser ablation or magnetron sputtering typically generate a wide variety of metal-containing species and, without the possibility of mass-selection, even determining the identity of the dissociating moiety can be challenging. In recent years, we have developed a velocity map imaging spectrometer equipped with a laser ablation source explicitly for studying neutral metal-containing species. Here, we report the results of velocity map imaging photofragmentation studies of MoO and CrO. In both cases, dissociation at the two- and three-photon level leads to fragmentation into a range of product channels, some of which can be confidently assigned to particular Mo (Cr) and O atom quantum states. Analysis of the kinetic energy release spectra as a function of photon energy allows precise determination of the ground state dissociation energies of MoO,respectively.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1704.08324