Ionization of an atom or molecule that results from exposure to electromagnetic radiation. The mechanism of photoionization is the same as that operating in the photoelectric effect, but in photoionization an electron is ejected from a single atom or molecule, such as occur in the gaseous state. The incident radiation, of frequency ν, can be considered to consist of discrete photons of energy hν, where h is the Planck constant. Photoionization can only occur when the photon energy, hν, exceeds the first ionization potential, I1; there is thus a photoionization threshold of frequency below which the effect does not occur.