Faraday research article. Interferences in molecular photofragmentation and their effect on vector properties

Selected examples are presented to demonstrate the effects in molecular photofragmentation processes of quantum interferences due to simultaneous transitions from one initial state to several dissociative pathways giving the same final fragments. Particular emphasis is given to the effect on vector properties such as the ejection anisotropy, the alignment and orientation of photofragments, and the fluorescence polarization. In many cases these interference effects are extremely sensitive to details of the potential-energy surfaces and inter-electronic couplings in excited states.