Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
An infrared laser generated from a Nd:YAG laser mixing with a dye laser has been used as a tunable coherent pulsed laser source to photodesorb ammonia from a Cu(100) surface after excitation of the ν3 mode. Timeresolved quadrupole mass spectrometry is sucessfully applied to determine the translational temperatures of the desorbing species from a monolayer coverage on the metal surface. Evidence for desorption induced by vibrational excitation has been obtained and the results are discussed in terms of rapid energy transfer mechanisms.