Study of low-lying electronic states of ozone by anion photoelectron spectroscopy of O−3

The low-lying electronic states of ozone are studied using anion photoelectron spectroscopy of O−3. The spectra show photodetachment transitions from O−3 to the X̃ 1A1 ground state and to the five lowest lying electronic states of the ozone molecule, namely the 3A2, 3B2, 1A2, 3B1, and 1B1 states. The geometry of the ozonide anion determined from a Franck–Condon analysis of the O3 X 1A1 ground state spectrum agrees reasonably well with previous work. The excited state spectra are dominated by bending vibrational progressions which, for some states, extend well above the dissociation asymptote without noticeable lifetime broadening effects. Preliminary assignments are based upon photoelectron angular distributions and comparison with ab initio calculations. None of the excited states observed lies below the ground state dissociation limit of O3 as suggested by previous experimental and theoretical results.