ir photolysis of SeF6: Isotope separation and dissociation enhancement using NH3 and CO2 lasers

The isotopically selective ir photodissociation of SeF6 using two lasers is reported. The output from an NH3 laser (780.5 cm−1, 0.75 J, 0.5 μsec FWHM) and a line tunable CO2 TEA laser (2.5 J, 150 nsec FWHM) are combined in order to enhance the photodissociation rate. Although the CO2 laser output by itself is ineffective in dissociating SeF6, the CO2 laser output can enhance the NH3 laser photolysis of SeF6 by as much as a factor of 50. We find that the isotopic selectivity is independent of the CO2 laser energy, and the rate of dissociation is unaffected by changing the CO2 laser frequency.