title: Fragmentation dynamics of CO(2)(3+) investigated by multiple electron capture in collisions with slow highly charged ions.
abstract: Fragmentation of highly charged molecular ions or clusters consisting of more than two atoms can proceed in a one step synchronous manner where all bonds break simultaneously or sequentially by emitting one ion after the other. We separated these decay channels for the fragmentation of CO(2)(3+) ions by measuring the momenta of the ionic fragments. We show that the total energy deposited in the molecular ion is a control parameter which switches between three distinct fragmentation pathways: the sequential fragmentation in which the emission of an O(+) ion leaves a rotating CO(2+) ion behind that fragments after a time delay, the Coulomb explosion and an in-between fragmentation--the asynchronous dissociation. These mechanisms are directly distinguishable in Dalitz plots and Newton diagrams of the fragment momenta. The CO(2)(3+) ions are produced by multiple electron capture in collisions with 3.2 keV/u Ar(8+) ions.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str.1, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hant
authors.forename: L Ph H
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Titze
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jahnke
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Czasch
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Schöffler
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kreidi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jagutzki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Böcking
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dörner