Photodissociation of Diatomic Molecules

[mm8070]

I want to design a system of some kind that will photodissociate isolated diatomic molecules. I began by looking at Einstein's treatment of absorption and emission rates, molecular orbital geometry, the Morse potential and various other topics. I'm fairly well versed in quantum and E&M (full year of honors for both in my 3rd year). We used McIntyre for quantum and Griffiths for E&M.

I'm not sure how exactly to tackle this. It seems like all the stuff I've looked at is useful but I am not sure where to go from here. I first want to look at the case of an individual molecule and what wavelength of photons needed to dissociate. Also, how do i know the electrons will absorb these or any photons? Would the nucleus? After i figure out the theoretical case for one molecule, I am confident in my ability to apply stat mech but i'd appreciate advice on this anyway.

 

[DrClaude]

I'm not sure I understand what you are after. Could you give some details as to what this "system" would be, and what do you hope to achieve with it?

Otherwise, most of the information is found in textbooks in molecular physics and spectroscopy.

 

[DrClaude]

I should also reply on the following:

Also, how do i know the electrons will absorb these or any photons? Would the nucleus?

It is both together: it is the system electron + nuclei that absorbs EM radiation. To achieve photodissociation, you usually need to excite to an unbounded (continuum) state of an excited electronic state.

There is an absorption cross-section, so the probability of dissociating a moleculee will depend on the experimental conditions.