We present kinematically complete measurements of the photo double ionization of ethylene (double CC bond) and acetylene (triple CC bond) hydrocarbons just above the double ionization threshold. We discuss the results in terms of the coincident kinetic energy of the photo electrons and the nuclear kinetic energy release of the recoiling ions. We have incorporated quantum chemistry calculations to interpret which of the electronic states of the dication have been populated and trace the various subsequent fragmentation channels. We suggest pathways that involve the electronic ground and excited states of the precursor ethylene dication and explore the strong influence of the conical intersections between the different electronic states. The nondissociative ionization yield is small in ethylene and high in acetylene when compared with the dissociative ionization channels.The reason for such a striking difference is explained in part on the basis of a propensity rule which influences the population of states in the photo double ionization of a centrosymmetric closed shell molecule by favoring singlet ungerade and triplet gerade final states. This propensity rule and the calculated potential energy surfaces clarify a picture of the dynamics leading to the observed dication dissociation products.

The fragmentation pathways and dynamics of ethylene molecules after core ionization are explored using coincident measurements of the Auger electron and fragment ions by employing the cold target recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy method. The influence of several factors on the dynamics and kinematics of the dissociation is studied. These include propensity rules, ionization mechanisms, symmetry of the orbitals from which the Auger electrons originate, multiple scattering, conical intersections, interference, and possible core-hole localization for the double ionization of this polyatomic molecule. Energy correlation maps allow probing the multidimensional potential energy surfaces and, in combination with our multiconfiguration self-consistent field calculations, identifying the populated electronic states of the dissociating dication. The measured angular distributions of the Auger electrons in the molecular frame further support and augment these assignments. The deprotonation and molecular hydrogen ion elimination channels show a nearly isotropic Auger electron angular distribution with a small elongation along the direction perpendicular to the molecular axis. For the symmetric breakup the angular distributions show a clear influence of multiple scattering on the outgoing electrons. The lowest kinetic energy release feature of the symmetric breakup channel displays a fingerprint of entangled Auger and photoelectron motion in the angular emission pattern identifying this transition as an excellent candidate to probe core-hole localization at a conical intersection of a polyatomic molecule.

Molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPADs) are measured in electron-ion momentum imaging experiments and compared with complex Kohn variational calculations for carbon K-shell ionization of carbon tetrafluoride (CF 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ) and 1,1-difluoroethylene (C 2 H 2 F 2 ). While in ethane the polarization averaged MFPADs show a tendency at low energies for the photoelectron to be emitted in the directions of the bonds, the opposite effect is seen in CF4. A combination of these behaviors is seen in difluoroethylene where ionization from the two carbons can be distinguished experimentally because of their different K-shell ionization potentials. Excellent agreement is found between experiment and simple static-exchange or coupled two-channel theoretical calculations. However, simple electrostatics do not provide an adequate explanation of the suggestively simple angular distributions at low electron ejection energies.

We investigate the angular distribution parameters and partial photoionization cross sections of the atomic barium mainline and the , and satellites in the region of the excitations. Our measurements cover the photon energy range from 19.0 eV to 23.0 eV. They are in good qualitative agreement with early experimental investigations of these partial cross sections but were recorded with a significantly improved monochromator resolution detailing the complicated resonance structure in this energy regime. The angular distribution measurements reported here are a significant improvement over the only other angular distribution measurement to date in this resonance region.