Ion-electron velocity vector correlations in dissociative photoionization of simple molecules using electrostatic lenses

A new development of electrostatic lenses for ion and/or electron trajectory focusing has been implemented in a double velocity spectrometer which combines time of flight resolved coincidence and imaging techniques using fast position sensitive detectors. Ions and electrons produced by photoionization are extracted from the interaction region by a unique uniform electrostatic field, while the electrostatic lenses create a nonuniform field outside the extraction region. The space focusing reducing the effect of the finite dimensions of the interaction region on one side, and the global bending of the ion and/or electron trajectories preserving the time of flight information on the other side, enable a significant improvement of the resolution of the three measured velocity components for each particle. Such a device is particularly well adapted for the study of vector correlations in dissociative photoionization of simple molecules in the vacuum ultraviolet photon energy range. The gain achieved in the energy resolution of the processes by ion-electron kinetic energy correlation, as well as in the polar and azimuthal angle resolution in the I(theta(e),phi(e)) molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions, is illustrated on the example of dissociative photoionization of the NO molecule. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.