Vibronic state specific predissociation rates from excited electronic states

It is shown that predissociation can be perceived as a primary process due to the continuum part of a Morse oscillator potential. In the model proposed here internal conversion to the ground state is thus not necessarily the primary process of a consecutive dissociation but may be a simultaneous decay. As a consequence, dissociation rates should show strong variations from specific (ro-) vibrational states of the first excited electronic states that are similar to those known from “pure” internal conversion rates. This behaviour is demonstrated by calculating predissociation rates for the process. Especially the out-of-plane modes seem to play an extraordinary role in the excess energy behaviour of the predissociation rate. At lower excess energies, rates from single vibronic levels with out-of-plane mode characteristics may show an increase by several orders of magnitude. Received: 13 November 1998