Tunable vacuum ultraviolet laser - Ideal light for spectroscopy of atoms, molecules, and clusters

Application of a tunable, intense, and coherent vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light source, a so-called tunable VUV laser, to molecular spectroscopy and photodissociation chemistry is introduced by referring to our recent studies on the high-lying electronically excited states of small jet-cooled molecules and van der Waals clusters. It is demonstrated that the combination of the VUV laser, generated by two-photon resonance four wave sum or difference frequency mixing scheme, and the free jet expansion techniques is promising to derive precise and substantial information regarding the level structure and the dynamical processes characteristic of highly excited molecular species excited in the VUV wavelength region (lambda = 200-115 nm).