Infrared photodissociation of benzene dimers in the 1000 cm−1 frequency region

The infrared photodissociation of benzene dimers has been investigated in the frequency region of the CO2 laser. A single absorption peak is observed with a maximum at 1038 cm−1, and a full width at half-maximum of about 2 cm−1. The laser fluence dependence of the dissociation yield and two-laser hole burning experiments both indicate that the linewidth is mostly homogeneous. The benzene monomer fragments from the photodissociation emerge with an isotropic angle distribution. A relatively large fraction of the available energy goes into product translation, and the remainder into rotation.