Photoinduced ion-pair formation in the (HI)m(H2O)n cluster system

The temporal behavior of the photoinduced ion-pair formation process in the (HI)m(H2O)n (n=1–6 for m=1 and n=1–4 for m=2) cluster system has been studied via the coupling between the gΣ−3 Rydberg and VΣ+1 valence states. Comparison of the time constants obtained to those measured in previous experiments for the analogous process in HBr-water clusters, along with a detailed analysis of the signal intensity as a function of laser-pulse power, provides new insight into and confirmation of the previously proposed ion-pair formation mechanism.