A flash photolysis-resonance fluorescence study of the formation of O/1D/ in the photolysis of water and the reaction of O/1D/ with H2, Ar, and He

The technique employed in the study utilizes the vacuum ultraviolet flash photolysis of H2O combined with time resolved, simultaneous detection of H and O via resonance fluorescence at 121.6 and 130.2 nm respectively. The measurements were made by means of photon counting and multichannel scaling. The sensitivity of the system for H and O is discussed. Experiments are reported in which signals due to H and O were accumulated from the flash photolysis of a mixture of 0.1 torr H2O and 100 torr Ar. Attention is given to the relative importance of two primary processes in the photolysis of water.