Threshold ion-pair production spectroscopy of HCN

The spectroscopic technique of threshold ion-pair production spectroscopy (TIPPS) has been applied to the triatomic molecule HCN. We have recorded the total ion-pair yield and TIPP spectra for the HCN -> H++CN- process using coherent vacuum ultraviolet excitation. From the simulation of our high-resolution TIPP spectrum we have precisely measured the HCN ion-pair threshold E-IP(0) to be 122 244 +/- 4 cm(-1). This value could be used to determine the bond dissociation energy D-0(H-CN) to unprecedented accuracy. Our fitting result also showed that rotationally excited instead of cold CN- fragment is favored as the ion-pair dissociation product in the threshold region.