1 research outputs found
Charge and Nuclear Dynamics Induced by Deep Inner-Shell Multiphoton Ionization of CH<sub>3</sub>I Molecules by Intense X‑ray Free-Electron Laser Pulses
In recent years, free-electron lasers
operating in the true X-ray
regime have opened up access to the femtosecond-scale dynamics induced
by deep inner-shell ionization. We have investigated charge creation
and transfer dynamics in the context of molecular Coulomb explosion
of a single molecule, exposed to sequential deep inner-shell ionization
within an ultrashort (10 fs) X-ray pulse. The target molecule was
CH<sub>3</sub>I, methane sensitized to X-rays by halogenization with
a heavy element, iodine. Time-of-flight ion spectroscopy and coincident
ion analysis was employed to investigate, via the properties of the
atomic fragments, single-molecule charge states of up to +22. Experimental
findings have been compared with a parametric model of simultaneous
Coulomb explosion and charge transfer in the molecule. The study demonstrates
that including realistic charge dynamics is imperative when molecular
Coulomb explosion experiments using short-pulse facilities are performed