Photolysis of O 2 dispersed in solid neon with far-ultraviolet radiation.

Irradiation at 173 or 143 nm of samples of O-16(2) or O-18(2) in solid Ne near 4 K produced many new spectral lines in absorption and emission from the mid-infrared to the near-ultraviolet regions. The major product was ozone, O-3, that was identified with its mid-infrared and near-ultraviolet absorption lines. Oxygen atoms were formed on photolysis of O-2 and stored in solid neon until the temperature of a sample was increased to 9 K, which enabled their migration and combination to form O-3 and likely also O-2. O-2 in five excited states and O in two excited states detected through the emission spectra indicate that complicated processes occurred in solid Ne after far-ultraviolet excitation. For the transition D-1(2) P-3(1,2) of O, the lifetime was determined to be 5.87 +/- 0.10 s; the lifetime of the upper state of an unidentified transition associated with an emission feature at 701.7 nm was determined to be 2.34 +/- 0.07 s.