Acquisition of an Ultrahigh-Resolution Vacuum Ultraviolet Laser System

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With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program, the Department of Chemistry at the University of California in Davis will acquire an ultrahigh-resolution vacuum ultraviolet laser system. This equipment will enhance research in the following areas: a) high-resolution two-color IR-VUV and VUV-IR photoionization and pulsed-field-ionization-photoelectron studies of simple polyatomic molecules, including selected amino acids; b) studies of the dissociation dynamics of carbon disulfide and carbon dioxide and to determine product branching ratios; c) development of high resolution VUV microscopic techniques for characterization of carbon and silicon in nanomaterials; d) VUV resonance Raman spectroscopic studies of the dynamics and spectroscopy of radicals; e) studies on the surface structures of absorbed molecules and their activities; and f) analysis of airborne pollutants, aerosols, and biomolecules. The existence of this multi-user laser facility will not only induce future cooperative projects between these groups, but also provide a positive learning environment for graduate and postdoctoral students in the Chemistry Department to familiarize with various frontier research areas in physical, analytical, atmospheric and biophysical chemistry. A comprehensive ultrahigh-resolution VUV laser system such as this does not currently exist in the US or Canada. The application of this laser system represents a frontier in many important research fields, such as spectroscopy of ions, thermochemistry of reactive intermediates, mass spectrometry for analytical and atmospheric sampling, and microscopy for materials studies.