Photodissociation Of Water Induced By A Long Uv Pulse And Probed By High-Energy-Resolution X-Ray-Absorption Spectroscopy

A UV-pump x-ray-probe (UVX-PP) experiment for probing UV initiated dissociation of the water molecule with long pulses is proposed on the basis of theoretical simulations. With long overlapping UV and x-ray pulses, we can obtain high-spectral-resolution x-ray-absorption or ionization spectra, containing detailed information about dynamics in the intermediate valence-excited state. The dynamics can be influenced with frequency detuning of the pump UV pulse, which acts as a camera shutter by regulating the duration of the UVX-PP process. Thereby, this UVX-PP setup gives access to ultrafast dynamics of the nuclear wave packet without experimentally challenging requirements of ultrashort pulses and controlled delay times. In a case study of the water molecule, we focus on the lowest UVX-PP channel (1b(1) -> 4a(1), 1a(1) -> 1b(1)) where both intermediate valence-excited and final core-excited states are dissociative. The variation of the UVX-PP duration, controlled by the UV detuning, and different dispersion laws of so-called molecular and atomic bands allow one to study the dynamics of fragmentation of the water molecule in the intermediate state. A feature is that the long lifetime of intermediate valence-excited states opens a door for studies of photoinduced dissociation of polyatomic molecules with heavy fragments.