This paper is dedicated to Professor John C. Polnnyi on the occasiorz of his 65th birthday JIANYING CAO, HANS-PETER LOOCK, and CHARLES X.W. QIAN. Can. J. Chem. 72,758 (1994).Nozzle-cooled BrCl was excited with tunable laser radiation at selected wavelengths between 389 and 500 nm. The chlorine atomic fragments in their c~* (~P , /~) and c~(~P~/~) state were stated-selectively probed by resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization. The branching ratio (Cl"l(C1 + CI*)) was measured as a function of the excitation wavelength. The relative Cl* yield reaches a maximum at around A hot = 460 nm. Decomposition of these branching ratios into C1 and Clg: photofragment yield spectra provides insight into the b r~1 B-state 311(0+) non-adiabatic dissociation dynamics. Our results suggest that the dissociation mechanism involves non-adiabatic transitions among O+ potential energy curves.JIANYING CAO, HANS-PETER LOOCK et CHARLES X.W. QIAN. Can. J. Chem. 72,758 (1994).On a excitC du BrCl refroidi h l'aide d'un rayonnement laser adjustable h diverses longueurs d'onde allant de 389 h 500 nm. Faisant appel h une ionisation multiphotonique rehaussCe par resonance, on a examink sklectivement les divers Ctats des fragments atomiques du chlore dans leurs Ctats C~* (~P ,~~) et c~(~P~/~) .On a mesurk le rapport de branchement (Cl'V(C1 + Cl*:)) en fonction de la longueur d'onde de l'excitation. Le rendement relatif de Cl* atteint un maximum environ Aphot = 460 nm. La dCcomposition de ces rapports de branchement en spectres de rendement des photofragments C1 et Cl* fournit des donnkes sur la dynamique de la dissociation non-adiabatique de l'Ctat B, 311(0+), du BrC1. Nos rCsultats suggkrent que le mecanisme de dissociation implique des transitions non-adiabatiques parmi les courbes d'Cnergie potentielle O+.[Traduit par la rkdaction] Introduction When two or more potential energy surfaces (PES) are involved in photodissociation processes, non-adiabatic interactions among these surfaces can influence the dynamics significantly. In particular, if at least one of the photofragments has a non-vanishing angular momentum, non-adiabatic transitions are most likely to be observed. In this situation, more than one exit channel is readily accessible so that, even if the dissociation was initiated on a single PES, the non-adiabatic interactions are unavoidable during the fragmentation process (1).A simple example of non-adiabatic transitions is given when only two potential energy curves with an avoided crossing are involved (see, for example, ref. 2). If the kinetic energy near the interaction region is small, the dissociation will proceed adiabatically, i.e., the molecule stays on the initially prepared adiabatic curve throughout the dissociation. For significantly higher kinetic energy, the dissociation can proceed diabatically and the molecule jumps to the other potential energy curve.In a realistic molecular system, however, several potential curves are normally involved. It is important to study the non-adiabatic transitions among these curves to u...