Angular and internal state distributions of H2 (+) generated by (2 + 1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization of H2 using time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

We report direct measurement of the anisotropy parameter β for the angular distribution of the photoelectron and photoion in (2 + 1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization process of H2 X (1)Σg (+) (v = 0, J = 0) molecules through the intermediate H2 E,F (1)Σg (+) (v' = 0, J' = 0) level (λ = 201.684 nm) using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The time-of-flight spectra were recorded as the direction of polarization of the ionizing laser was varied with respect to the flight axis of the H2 molecular beam and were fitted to an angular distribution in an appropriately rotated coordinate system with the z-axis oriented along the time-of-flight axis. The anisotropy parameter β was found to be 1.72 ± 0.13 by fitting the time-of-flight spectra and agreed with previous measurements. Using secondary ionization with a delayed laser pulse of different wavelength, we also determined the vibrational energy distribution of the ions, showing that 98% ± 4% of the ions are generated in their ground vibrational state, in agreement with the calculated Franck-Condon factors between the H2 E,F (1)Σg (+) (v' = 0) and H2 (+) X (1)Σg (+) (v″) vibrational levels.