Dissociative excitation of metastable fragments by electron impact on carbonyl sulphide, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide

Metastable fragments produced in the electron impact dissociation of carbonyl sulphide, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have been studied by the technique of time-of-flight spectroscopy. Three metastable fragments were identified in the time-of-flight spectra for dissociation of carbonyl sulphide and have been classified as O( 5 S), S( 5 S) and CO (a 3 Pi ). From the time-of-flight spectra, the kinetic energy distributions of the fragments have been deduced. The production of CO(a 3 Pi ) from carbonyl sulphide has been compared with its production from carbon dioxide; the production of O( 5 S) from dissociation of carbonyl sulphide, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide is also compared.