Two-Photon Ionization of Polyatomic Molecules in a Mass Spectrometer

Abstract

Abstract Two-photon ionization of benzene molecules in a mass spectrometer is performed with a tunable frequency-doubled dye laser. The nonlinear ionization is resonantly enhanced by real intermediate rovibronic levels in the S 1 state of the molecule. Our results show that stepwise multi-photon ionization is a very selective and versatile ionization source for a mass spectrometer.