A desorption mechanism of water following vacuum-ultraviolet irradiation on amorphous solid water at 90 K

Following 157 nm photoexcitation of amorphous solid water and polycrystalline water ice, photodesorbed water molecules (H2O and D2O), in the ground vibrational state, have been observed using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization detection methods. Time-of-flight and rotationally resolved spectra of the photodesorbed water molecules were measured, and the kinetic and internal energy distributions were obtained. The measured energy distributions are in good accord with those predicted by classical molecular dynamics calculations for the kick-out mechanism of a water molecule from the ice surface by a hot hydrogen (deuterium) atom formed by photodissociation of a neighboring water molecule. Desorption of D2O following 193 nm photoirradiation of a D2O/H2S mixed ice was also investigated to provide further direct evidence for the operation of a kick-out mechanism. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3386577]