Imaging studies of the photodissociation dynamics of halogen oxides

PHYS 260

Simon W North, north@mail.chem.tamu.edu, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77842
The importance of halogens in the catalytic destruction of stratospheric ozone has been well established. The photolysis of halogen intermediate and reservoir species, however, is considerably less well understood. These molecules present a formidable experimental challenge due to their transient nature. Halogen oxides are key intermediate species in catalytic ozone depletion cycles of ozone destruction in the middle and upper stratosphere. Despite the importance of these species there are few studies of their photodissociation dynamics. We have studied the wavelength-dependent photodissociation dynamics of jet-cooled halogen oxides radical using velocity-map ion imaging. Recent results on ClO, BrO and IO photodissociation will be highlighted in the talk. Comparison to theory for these systems will also be presented.