induced by intense femtosecond laser pulses*

 

 

The fragmentation of CF₃⁺ molecular ions is investigated by probing a CF₃⁺ ion-beam target with femtosecond laser pulses. A coincidence three-dimensional momentum imaging technique allows detection of both charged and neutral fragments. We investigate the competition between fluorine elimination, CF₂⁺ + F and CF₂²⁺ + F, with and without ionization, as well as in three-body breakup. Interestingly, we observed significant contribution of fluorine elimination from the dication, CF₂²⁺ + F along with the charge-symmetric fragmentation channel, CF₂⁺ + F⁺. Some breakup channels show strong wavelength dependences, while others do not. We will also discuss the kinetic energy release (KER) and angular distributions of these breakup processes of CF₃⁺.