Correlated v(H(2) ) and j(CO) product states from formaldehyde photodissociation: dynamics of molecular elimination.

A detailed study of the photoinduced molecular elimination pathway of formaldehyde on the ground state surface was carried out using high-resolution dc slice ion imaging. Detailed correlated H(2) rovibrational and CO rotational product quantum state distributions were measured by imaging spectroscopically selected CO velocity distributions following photodissociation at energies from approximately 1800 to approximately 4100 cm(-1) above the barrier to molecular elimination. Excitation to the 2(1)4(1), 2(1)4(3), 2(2)4(1), 2(2)4(3), and 2(3)4(1) bands of H(2)CO are reported here. The dependence of the product rovibrational distributions on excitation energy are discussed in light of a dynamical model which has been formulated to describe the strong product state correlations observed.