Research interests of the group encompass the whole gamut of photochemical and photophysical processes, from photoabsorption, photoionization, photodissociation (for molecules), to Auger electron emission, of mostly gas phase atoms and molecules exposed to photons with energies ranging from ultraviolet to soft X-rays. The choices of the samples are dictated either by their merits in revealing certain photochemical or photophysical properties, or by their relevance to atmospheric chemistry and astrochemistry (such as sulfides in earth's atmosphere and various hydrides in planetary atmospheres of the solar system).
Experimental techniques include precision photoabsorption of isotopomers, various photoelectron spectroscopies, Auger electron spectroscopy, time-of-flight mass spectrometry, various coincidence techniques, photoionization mass spectrometry, and two-color (laser and synchrotron radiations) experiments. The combined application of the last two techniques is used to obtain the ionization spectra of neutral excited states, the ionization mass spectra of products of laser photolysis, and the ionization mass spectra of products of crossed molecular beam reactions. Data derived from the assorted experimental approaches are geared toward revealing the energetics, decay hierarchies, and dissociation dynamics of various neutral and ionized states of atoms and molecules.