On the photofragmentation of SF${}_2^{+}$: Experimental evidence for a predissociation channel

We report on the first observation of the photofragmentation dynamics of SF${}_2^{+}$. With the aid of state-of-the-art ab initio calculations on the low-lying excited cationic states of SF${}_2^{+}$ performed by Lee et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 125, 104304 (2006)], a predissociation channel of SF${}_2^{+}$ is evidenced by means of resonance-enhanced multilphoton ionization spectroscopy. This work represents a second experimental investigation on the low-lying excited cationic states of SF${}_2^{+}$. [The first one is the He I photoelectron spectrum of SF${}_2^{+}$ reported by de Leeuw et al. three decades ago, see Chem. Phys. 34, 287 (1978).]