The dissociative ionization and Coulomb explosion of ethane by a femtosecond laser field

Abstract

Femtosecond laser-induced dissociation and Coulomb explosion of polyatomic molecule C2H6 were systematically investigated using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer and a chirped pulse amplifier laser. With the laser intensity varying from 2.4×1015 W/cm2 to 1.2×1016W/cm2, strong molecular ions C2Hn+ (n=0–6) and atomic ions Cm+ (m=1–3) signals were observed. The double-peak structure of atomic ions indicated the occurrence of Coulomb explosion. Compared with the nearly isotropic distribution of C+, highly charged ions Cm+ (m=2–3) exhibited a sharply anisotropic angular distribution, which was attributed to the geometric alignment.