Absorption of infrared radiation by a large polyatomic molecule: CO2 laser irradiation of disulfur decafluoride

Absorption cross sections, reaction probability, isotopic selectivity, and reaction product distributions have been measured for disulfur decafluoride (S2F10) irradiated with CO2 laser radiation. The absorption measurements covered a five-decade energy fluence range at ten laser frequencies in the region of the 938 cm−1 S2F10 absorption feature. S2F10 absorbs laser radiation much more easily than SF6 at similar infrared band position and energy fluence.