[en] Work performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) is reported. The timing characteristics of the SPEAR beam (pulse width less than or equal to 0.4 nsec, pulse repetition period = 780 nsec) were exploited to determine dynamic behavior of atomic, molecular, excimeric, and photodissociative gas-phase species excited by vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) radiation. Fast fluorescence timing measurements were done to determine excited-state lifetimes of Kr and Xe. Pressure-dependent timing studies on Xe gas at higher concentrations demonstrated some of the problems associated with previous kinetic modeling of the Xe₂ system. It was found that even qualitative agreement of observed Xe₂ lifetimes as a function of pressure required the assumption that the radiative lifetime was a strong function of internuclear separation. The radiative decays of chemically unstable fragments, CN* (B²Σ⁺) and XeF* (B²Σ⁺ and C² Pi/sub 3/2//), were studied by pulsed photodissociation of stable parent compounds, ICN and XeF₂. When the polarization of the CN* (B²Σ⁺) fragment fluorescence was measured, it was found to be non-zero and strongly dependent on excitation wavelength. This polarization is related to the symmetry of the photodissociative surface via a classical model, and the variations in the polarization with wavelength is attributed to symmetry and lifetime effects of a predissociating parent molecule. Despite the drawbacks of limited availability and low radiation flux, synchrotron radiation is definitely a useful spectroscopic tool for VUV studies of gas-phase systems