Vibrationally resolved K-shell photoionization of CO with circularly polarized light

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Aug 20;93(8):083002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.083002. Epub 2004 Aug 19.

Abstract

Diffraction of a low energy (<4 eV) carbon-K-photoelectron wave that is created inside a CO molecule by absorption of a circularly polarized photon is investigated. The measurements resolve the vibrational states of the K-shell ionized CO+ molecule and display the photoelectron diffraction patterns in the molecular frame. These show significant variation for the different vibrational states. This effect is stronger than predicted by state-of-the-art theory. As this study is performed close to C-K-threshold and, therefore, far below the molecule's sigma-shape resonance, this surprisingly strong effect is not related to that resonance phenomenon.