The Dissociation Energy of the Benzene - Argon van der Waals Complex Determined by Velocity Map Imaging

Abstract

The technique of velocity map imaging has been used to determine the dissociation energy of the C6H6+–Ar van der Waals complex. From the change in the ionization energy between the complex and free benzene and the spectroscopic shift of the S1←S0 transition, the dissociation energies in the S0 and S1 states of the neutral complex were determined, being 314 ± 7 and 335 ± 7 cm−1 for the S0 and S1 states of the neutral complex, respectively, and 486 ± 5 cm−1 for the cation ground (D0) state.