Knowledge Bank

We have studied the dynamics of vibrational autoionization of Rydberg states of water using energy-dispersive photoelectron spectroscopy. A high-resolution magnetic bottle photoelectron spectrometer was used to acquire rotationally resolved photoelectron spectra following vibrational autoionization of fully quantum-state selected Rydberg states with $n=6$ and $n\sim 9$. The Rydberg states were excited through a $(2+1\prime )$ REMPI process through selected rovibrational levels of the $C~(1,0,0)$ state. The photoelectron spectra provide considerable dynamical information on the mechanisms of energy and angular momentum transfer between the Rydberg electron and the ion core, and also give information which will be valuable for firm identifications for the Rydberg state transitions. The spectra directly display the degree of 1-mixing between different partial waves.