Chemical Physics Letters, Vol.320, No.5-6, 697-702, 2000
Ultrafast photodissociation dynamics of acetone excited by femtosecond 155 nm laser pulses
In a femtosecond pump-probe experiment, the ultrafast photodissociation of the acetone molecule has been studied after excitation of a high-lying Rydberg state by absorption of a single 8.0 eV photon. The decay of the acetone with a time constant of 330 +/- 40 fs leads to the acetyl radical in a long-lived state (> 10 ps). A tentative assignment of the excited Rydberg state is discussed.