Ultrafast photo-dissociation imaged with femtosecond gas electron diffraction

We examine dynamics of single photon excitation in C$_{\mathrm{2}}$F$_{\mathrm{4}}$I$_{\mathrm{2}}$ molecules in the gaseous state using Ultrafast Electron Diffraction (UED). The experiments were performed at SLAC National Laboratory using the MeV gun with sub-200 fs resolution. With UED we can observe dynamics of the molecule with sub-Angstrom resolution. This allows us to view the transient state C$_{\mathrm{2}}$F$_{\mathrm{4}}$I $+$ I before the molecule fully dissociates to C$_{\mathrm{2}}$F$_{\mathrm{4}} \quad +$ 2I. We report on any dynamics observed in the transient state. We also report on differences in the rise time of the dynamics when comparing sub-sections of diffraction patterns both parallel and orthogonal to the polarization of the pump laser.