Theoretical investigations of population trapping phenomena in atomic four-color,three-step photoionization scheme

The four-color three-step selective photoionization process of atom is very important in laser isotope separation technology.The population trapping phenomena and their influences are studied theoretically in monochromatic and non-monochromatic laser fields based on the density matrix theory in this work.Time evolutions of the photoionization properties of the four-color,three-step process are given.The population trapping effects occur intensely in monochromatic excitation,while it gradually turns weak as the laser bandwidth increases.The effects of bandwidth,Rabi frequency,time delay,and frequency detuning on the population trapping effect are investigated in monochromatic and non-monochromatic laser fields.The effects of laser process parameters and atomic parameters on the effective selective photoionization are also discussed.The ionization probability and selectivity factors,as evaluation indexes,are difficult to improve synchronously by adjusting systematic parameters.Besides,the existence of metastable state may play a negative role when its population is low enough.

Breath-by-breath measurement of exhaled ammonia by acetonemodifier positive photoionization ion mobility spectrometry via online dilution and purging sampling

Exhaled ammonia(NH_(3))is an essential noninvasive biomarker for disease diagnosis.In this study,an acetone-modifier positive photoionization ion mobility spectrometry(AM-PIMS)method was developed for accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of exhaled NH_(3)with high selectivity and sensitivity.Acetone was introduced into the drift tube along with the drift gas as a modifier,and the characteristic NH_(3)product ion peak of(C_(3)H_(6)O)_(4)NH_(4)^(+)(K_(0)=1.45 cm^(2)/V·s)was obtained through the ion-molecule reaction with acetone reactant ions(C_(3)H_(6)O)_(2)H^(+)(K_(0)=1.87 cm^(2)/V·s),which significantly increased the peak-to-peak resolution and improved the accuracy of exhaled NH_(3)qualitative identification.Moreover,the interference of high humidity and the memory effect of NH_(3)molecules were significantly reduced via online dilution and purging sampling,thus realizing breath-by-breath measurement.As a result,a wide quantitative range of 5.87-140.92μmol/L with a response time of 40 ms was achieved,and the exhaled NH_(3)profile could be synchronized with the concentration curve of exhaled CO_(2).Finally,the analytical capacity of AM-PIMS was demonstrated by measuring the exhaled NH_(3)of healthy subjects,demonstrating its great potential for clinical disease diagnosis.

Numerical studies of isotopic selective photoionization of ytterbium in a three-step ionization scheme

Selective photoionization of ytterbium isotope is studied numerically based on a three-step photoionization scheme,4f^(14)6s^(21)S_0(0 cm^(-1))→4f~(14)6s6p~3P_1(17992.008 cm^(-1))→(4f~(13)6s~26p)(7/2,3/2)_2(35196.98 cm^(-1))→auto-ionization state(52353 cm^(-1))→Yb^(+),by the density matrix theory with the consideration of atomic hyperfine structures and magnetic sublevels.To examine the physical model,the numerical isotopic abundance of ytterbium is compared with that from mass spectroscopy experiment,showing that they are in good agreement with each other.The excitation process and ionization process of ytterbium,especially for odd isotopes,are discussed and analyzed in detail on this basis.The effects of frequency detuning,power densities,spectral bandwidths,polarization of two excitation lasers,and atomic Doppler broadening on the total ionization yield and isotopic abundance are investigated numerically and the optimal excitation conditions for~(176)Yb enrichment are identified semi-quantitatively.

Photoionization Mass Spectrometric and Kinetic Modeling of Low-pressure Pyrolysis of Benzene

Pyrolysis of benzene at 30 Torr was studied from 1360 K to 1820 K in this work. Synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry was employed to detect the pyroly- sis products such as radicals, isomers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and measure their mole fraction profiles versus temperature. A low-pressure pyrolysis model of benzene was developed and validated by the experimental results. Rate of production analysis was performed to reveal the major reaction networks in both fuel decomposition and aromatic growth processes. It is concluded that benzene is mainly decomposed via H-abstraction reaction to produce phenyl and partly decomposed via unimolecular decomposition reac- tions to produce propargyl or phenyl. The decomposition process stops at the formation of acetylene and polyyne species like diacetylene and 1,3,5-hexatriyne due to their high thermal stabilities. Besides, the aromatic growth process in the low-pressure pyrolysis of benzene is concluded to initiate from benzene and phenyl, and is controlled by the even carbon growth mechanism due to the inhibited formation of C5 and C7 species which play important roles in the odd carbon growth mechanism.

Binding Energy and Photoionization of Hydrogenic Impurities in GaAs/Ga_(1-x)Al_xAs Quantum Well Wires

The binding energy and the photon energy dependence of the photoionization cross-section are calculated for a hydrogenic impurity in GaAs/Ga 1-xAl xAs quantum well wires.The correlation between confined and non-confined direction of the wire in the variational wave function is taken into account.The results show that the photoionization cross-sections are affected by the width of the wire and that their magnitudes are larger than those in infinite potential quantum well wires.In comparison with previous's results,the variational wave function improves the binding energy and decreases the value of photoionization cross-sections of the hydrogenic impurities,which makes the results more reasonable.

Theoretical Investigation on Photoionization and Dissociative Photoionization of Toluene

The photoionization and dissociation photoionization of toluene have been studied using quantum chemistry methods. The geometries and frequencies of the reactants, transition states and products have been performed at B3LYP/6-311＋＋G（d,p） level, and single-point energy calculations for all the stationary points were carried out at DFT calculations of the optimized structures with the G3B3 level. The ionization energies of toluene and the ap- pearance energies for major fragment ions, C7H7＋, C6H5＋, C5H6＋, C5H5＋, are determined to be 8.90, 11.15 or 11.03, 12.72, 13.69, 16.28 eV, respectively, which are all in good agree- ment with published experimental data. With the help of available published experimental data and theoretical results, four dissociative photoionization channels have been proposed： CTHT＋＋H, C6Hs＋＋CH3, C5H6＋WC2H2, CsHs＋＋C2H2＋H. Transition structures and intermediates for those isomerization processes are determined in this work. Especially, the structures of C5H6＋ and C5H5＋ produced by dissociative photoionization of toluene have been defined as chain structure in this work with theoretical calculations.

State-to-state Photoionization Dynamics of Vanadium Nitride by Two-color Laser Photoionization and Photoelectron Methods

We have conducted a two-color visible-ultraviolet （VIS-UV） resonance-enhanced laser pho- toionization and pulsed field ionization-photoelectron （PFI-PE） study of gaseous vana- dium mononitride （VN） in the total energy range of 56900-59020 cm-1. The VN molecules were selectively excited to single rotational levels of the intermediate VN（D3H0, v＇=0） state by using a VIS dye laser prior to photoionization by employing a UV laser. This two-color scheme allows the measurements of rovibronically selected and re- solved PFI-PE spectra for the VN＋（X2A; v＋=0, 1, and 2） ion vibrational bands. By simulating the rotationally resolved PFI-PE spectra, J＋=3/2 is determined to be the lowest rotational level of the ground electronic state, indicating that the symmetry of the ground VN＋ electronic state is 2A3/2. The analysis of the PFI-PE spectra for VN＋ also yields accurate values for the adiabatic ionization energy for the formation of VN＋（X2A3/2）, IE（VN）=56909.5＋0.8 cm-1 （7.05588±0.00010 eV）, the vibrational fre- quency wc＋=1068.0±0.8 cm-1, the anharmonicity constant wc＋Xe＋=5.8±0.8 cm-1, the rotational constants Be＋=0.6563±0.0005 cm-1 and ae＋=0.0069±0.0004 cm-1, and the equi-librium bond length, re＋=1.529A, for VN＋（X2A3/2）; along with the rotational constants Bc＋=0.6578i0.0028 cm-1 and a＋=0.0085±0.0028 cm-1, and the equilibrium bond length re＋=1.527A for VN＋（X2As/2）, and the spin-orbit coupling constant A=153.3±0.8 cm-1 for VN＋（X2/k5/2,3/2）. The highly precise energetic and spectroscopic data obtained in the present study are valuable for benchmarking the predictions based on state-of-the-art ab initio quantum calculations.

Dissociative Photoionization of 1,4-Dioxane with Tunable VUV Synchrotron Radiation

The photoionization and photodissociation of 1,4-dioxane have been investigated with a reflectron time-of-flight photoionization mass spectrometry and a tunable vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation in the energy region of 8.0-15.5 eV. Parent ion and fragment ions at m/z 88, 87, 58, 57, 45, 44, 43, 41, 31, 30, 29, 28 and 15 are detected under supersonic conditions. The ionization energy of DX as well as the appearance energies of its fragment ions C4H7O2^＋, C3H6O^＋, C3H5O^＋, C2H5O^＋, C2H4O^＋, C2H3O^＋, C3H5^＋, CH3O^＋, C2H6^＋, C2H5^＋/CHO^＋, C2H4^＋ and CH3^＋ was determined from their photoionization efficiency curves. The optimized structures for the neutrals, cations, transition states and intermediates related to photodissociation of DX are characterized at the B3LYP/6-31＋G（d,p） level and their energies are obtained by G3B3 method. Possible dissociative channels of the DX are proposed based on comparison of experimental AE values and theoretical predicted ones. Intramolecular hydrogen migrations are found to be the dominant processes in most of the fragmentation pathways of 1,4-dioxane.

VUV Photoionization and Dissociation of Tyramine and Dopamine： the Joint Experimental and Theoretical Studies

Photon induced dissociation investigations of neutral tyramine and dopamine are carried out with synchrotron vacuum uRraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry and theoretical calculations. At low photon energy, only molecular ions are measured by virtue of nearthreshold photoionization. While increasing photon energy to 11.7 eV or more, four distinct fragment ions are obtained for tyramine and dopamine, respectively. Besides, the ionization energies of tyramine and dopamine are determined to be 7.984-0.05 and 7.674-0.05 eV by measuring the photoionization efficiency curves of corresponding molecular ions. With help of density function theory calculations, the detailed fragmentation pathways are established as well. These two molecular cations have similar aminoethyl group elimination pathways, CTHsO2＋ （m/z=124） and C7H8O＋ （m/z=108） are supposed to be generated by the McLafferty rearrangement via γ-hydrogen （7-H） shift inducing β-fission. And CH2NH2＋ is proposed to derive from the direct fission of C7-C8 bond. Besides, the McLafferty rearrangement and the C7-C8 bond fission are validated to be dominant dissociation pathways for tyramine and dopamine cations.

Photofragmentation of Isoleucine by Vacuum Ultraviolet Photoionization

Vacuum ultraviolet photon-induced ionization and dissociation of isoleucine are investi- gated with synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectroscopy and theoretical cal- culations. The main fragment ions at m/z=86, 75, 74, 69, 57, 46, 45, 44, 41, 30, 28, and 18 from isoleucine are observed in the mass spectrum at the photon energy of 13 eV. From the photoionization efficiency curves, appearance energies for the principal fragment ions CsH12N＋ （rn/z=86）, C2H5NO2＋ （m/z=75）, C5H9＋ （rn/z=-69）, C4H9＋ （m/z=57）, and CH4N＋ （m/z=30） are determined to be 8.844-0.07, 9.254-0.06, 10.20-4-0.12, 9.254-0.10, and 11.05＋0.07 eV, respectively, and possible formation pathways are established in detail by the calculations at the B3LYP/6-31＋＋G（d, p） levels. These proposed channels include simple bond cleavage reactions as well as reactions involving intermediates and transition structures. The experimental and computational appearance energies or barriers are in good agreement.

Dissociative Photoionization of 1,2-Epoxyoctane Studied with Synchrotron Radiation

Dissociative photoionization of 1,2-epoxyoctane was investigated by synchrotron radiation vacuum ultraviolet photons in the energy region of 9.8-16.6 eV under ultrasonic molec-ular beam. Dissociative fragment ions were measured with reffection time-of-ight mass spectrometer at di erent photon energies. Appearance potentials of the dominative ion fragments were determined through photoionization efficiency curves. The structures and energies of the parent, ionized and neutral radicals were obtained with G3 calculations. Through comparing the experimental results with the theoretical calculations, we proposed the dissociative channels for the photoionization of 1,2-epoxyoctane.

Control of the photoionization/photodissociation processes of cyclopentanone with trains of femtosecond laser pulses

A train of three equally spaced femtosecond laser pulses is employed to control the photoionization/photodissociation processes of cyclopentanone. With the increase of pulse separation, a strong modulation of product ion yield is observed. More than ten-fold changes of ion yield ratio between different products can be realized. The experimental observations further explain the compositions and formation pathways of peaks in the mass spectra. The controlling mechanisms are also discussed.

VUV Photoionization Study of the Allyl Radical from Premixed Gasoline/Oxygen Flame

The allyl radical has been observed in a low-pressure premixed gasoline/oxygen/argon flame by using tunable vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry, The ionization potential of the allyl radical is derived to be （8.13 ±0.02） eV from photoionization efficiency curve, In addition, a high level ab initzo Gaussian-3 （G3） method was used to calculate the energies of tile radical and its cation. The calculated adiabatic ionization potential is 8.18 eV, which is in excellent agreement with the experimental value. The result is helpful for identifying the allyl radical formed from other flames and for understanding the mechanism of soot formation.

Measurement of Photoionization Cross Sections of the Excited States of Titanium

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization of the titanium atoms has been investigated in the 293 321 nm wavelength. We couple a laser-ablated metal target into a molecular beam to produce free atoms. Ions produced from photoionization of the neutral atoms are monitored by a home-built time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Photoionization cross sections of the excited states of Ti I were deduced from the dependence of the ion signal intensity on the laser intensity for photon energies close to the ionization threshold. The values obtained range from 0.2 Mb to 6.0 Mb. No significant isotope-dependence was found from measurements of the photoionization cross sections of ^46Ti, ^47Ti, and ^48Ti.

Statistical and quantum photoionization cross sections in plasmas:Analytical approaches for any configurations including inner shells

Statistical models combined with the local plasma frequency approach applied to the atomic electron density are employed to study the photoionization cross-section for complex atoms.It is demonstrated that the Thomas–Fermi atom provides surprisingly good overall agreement even for complex outer-shell configurations,where quantum mechanical approaches that include electron correlations are exceedingly difficult.Quantum mechanical photoionization calculations are studied with respect to energy and nl quantum number for hydrogen-like and non-hydrogen-like atoms and ions.Ageneralized scaled photoionizationmodel(GSPM)based on the simultaneous introduction of effective charges for non-H-like energies and scaling charges for the reduced energy scale allows the development of analytical formulas for all states nl.Explicit expressions for nl1s,2s,2p,3s,3p,3d,4s,4p,4d,4f,and 5s are obtained.Application to H-like and non-H-like atoms and ions and to neutral atoms demonstrates the universality of the scaled analytical approach including inner-shell photoionization.Likewise,GSPMdescribes the near-threshold behavior and high-energy asymptotes well.Finally,we discuss the various models and the correspondence principle along with experimental data and with respect to a good compromise between generality and precision.The results are also relevant to large-scale integrated light–matter interaction simulations,e.g.,X-ray free-electron laser interactions with matter or photoionization driven by a broadband radiation field such as Planckian radiation.

Identification of Intermediates in Pyridine Pyrolysis with Molecular-beam Mass Spectrometry and Tunable Synchrotron VUV Photoionization

The pyrolysis of pyridine （5.26% pyridine in argon） was performed with tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization and molecular-beam mass spectrometry technique at the temperature range of 1255-1765 K at 267 Pa. About 20 products and intermediates, containing major species H2, HCN, C2H2, C5H3N, C4H2, and C3H3N, were identified by near-threshold measurements of photoionization mass spectra and their mole fractions vs. temperatures were estimated. The major reaction pathways are analyzed based on the experimental observations.

Molecular Frame Photoemission： Probe of the Photoionization Dynamics for Molecules in the Gas Phase

Molecular frame photoemission is a very sensitive probe of the photoionization （PI） dynamics of molecules. This paper reports a comparative study of non-resonant and resonant photoionization of D2 induced by VUV circularly polarized synchrotron radiation at SOLEIL at the level of the molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions （MFPADs）. We use the vector correlation method which combines imaging and time-of-flight resolved electron-ion coincidence techniques, and a generalized formalism for the expression of the Ⅰ（χ, θe, Фe） MFPADs, where χ is the orientation of the molecular axis with respect to the light quantization axis and （θe, Фe） the electron emission direction in the molecular frame. Selected MFPADs for a molecule aligned parallel or perpendicular to linearly polarized light, or perpendicular to the propagation axis of circularly polarized light, are presented for dissociative photoionization （DPI） of D2 at two photon excitation energies, hv=19 eV, where direct PI is the only channel opened, and hv=32.5 eV, i.e. in the region involving resonant excitation of Q1 and Q2 doubly excited state series. We discuss in particular the properties of the circular dichroism characterizing photoemission in the molecular frame for direct and resonant PI. In the latter case, a remarkable behavior is observed which may be attributed to the interference occurring between undistinguishable autoionization decay channels.

Photoionization and Dissociative Photoionization Study of Cholesterol by I R Laser Desorption/Tunable Synchrotron VUV Photoionization Mass Spectrometry

Elementary cholesterol was analyzed with IR laser desorption/tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. An exclusive molecular ion of cholesterol is observed by near threshold single-photon ionization with high efficiency. Fragments are yielded with the increase of photon energy. The structures of various fragments are determined with commercial electron ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Dominant fragmentation pathways are discussed in detail with the aid of ab initio calculations.

Vacuum Ultraviolet Free-Electron Laser Photoionization Mass Spectrometry of Alpha-pinene Ozonolysis

α-pinene is the most abundant monoterpene that represents an important family of volatile organic compounds.Molecular identification of key transient compounds during theα-pinene ozonolysis has been proven to be a challenging experimental target because of a large number of intermediates and products involved.Here we exploit the recently developed hybrid instruments that integrate aerosol mass spectrometry with a vacuum ultraviolet free-electron laser to study theα-pinene ozonolysis.The experiments ofα-pinene ozonolysis are performed in an indoor smog chamber,with reactor having a volume of 2 m^(3) which is made of fluorinated ethylene propylene film.Distinct mass spectral peaks provide direct experimental signatures of previously unseen compounds produced from the reaction ofα-pinene with O_(3).With the aid of quantum chemical calculations,plausible mechanisms for the formation of these new compounds are proposed.These findings provide crucial information on fundamental understanding of the initial steps ofα-pinene oxidation and the subsequent processes of new particle formation.

Investigation of Vacuum Ultraviolet Photoionization of Methylcyclohexane in Energy Region of 9-15.5 eV

Vacuum ultraviolet(VUV)photoionization and photodissociation of methylcyclohexane have been studied utilizing a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer(RTOF-MS)with synchrotron radiation source.Photoionization efficiency curves(PIEs)of molecule ion C7H14^+ and fragment ions C7H13^+,C6H11^+,C6H10+,C5H10^+,C5H9^+,C4H8^+,C4H7^+,and C3H5^+ were observed.The ionization energy of methylcyclohexane was measured to be(9.80±0.03)eV,and appearance energies of fragment ions were determined from the PIEs.Optimized structures of transitional states,intermediates and product ions were characterized at the B3LYP/6-31G(d)level and the energies were calculated using G3B3 method.Formation channels of dominating fragment ions were proposed.Intramolecular hydrogen migrations and carbon ring-opening were the foremost processes in fragmentation pathways of methylcyclohexane.