Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) is important in combustion¹ and atmospheric² chemistry- There has also been interest in CO as a potential molecular gas source for coherent tunable extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) radiation.^3,4 As a result, numerous experimental and theoretical studies have attempted to provide better understanding of the high- energy photodissociation processes of this molecule. Experimental investigations of the photo-dissociation processes of CO with the ArF excimer laser at 193 nm (-6.42 eV) must rely on multiphoton absorption processes because the dissociation energy⁵ (Do(C - O) = 11.09 eV] from the ground electronic state of CO (X¹ Σ⁺) exceeds the single-photon laser energy.

© 1991 Optical Society of America