Photoelectron kinetic energy dependence in near threshold ionization of NO from A state studied by time-resolved photoelectron imaging

Photoelectron angular distributions in the laboratory frame (LF-PADs) from the A((2)Sigma(+)) state of NO molecule were measured by femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging with (1+1') resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization via the A state. High-precision measurements of the anisotropy parameters of LF-PADs were performed for the photoelectron kinetic energy from 0.03 to 1.05 eV as a function of the pump-probe delay time. The revival feature of the rotational wave packet on the A state was clearly observed in the time dependence of the photoelectron anisotropy parameters. By approximating the phase shifts of the photoelectron partial waves by the quantum defects in the high-lying Rydberg states using the multichannel quantum defect theory, the energy-dependent photoionization transition dipole moments were determined, for the first time, from time-dependent LF-PADs measured by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.