A-band methyl halide dissociation via electronic curve crossing as studied by electron energy loss spectroscopy

Abstract

Excitation of the A-band low-lying electronic states in the methyl halides, CH3I, CH3Br, CH3Cl, and CH3F, has been investigated for the (n→σ∗) transitions, using electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the range of 3.5–7.5 eV. For the methyl halides, CH3I, CH3Br, and CH3Cl, three components of the Q complex (3Q1, 3Q0, and 1Q1) were directly observed, with the exception of methyl fluoride, in the optically forbidden EELS experimental conditions of this investigation. The effect of electronic-state curve crossing emerged in the transition probabilities for the 3Q0 and 1Q1 states, with spin-orbit splitting observed and quantified against results from recent ab initio studies.