Imaging of the Structure of the Argon and Neon Dimer, Trimer, and Tetramer

Abstract

We Coulomb explode argon and neon dimers, trimers, and tetramers by multiple ionization in an ultrashort 800 nm laser pulse. By measuring all momentum vectors of the singly charged ions in coincidence, we determine the ground state nuclear wave function of the dimer, trimer, and tetramer. Furthermore we retrieve the bond angles of the trimer in position space by applying a classical numerical simulation. For the argon and neon trimer, we find a structure close to the equilateral triangle. The width of the distribution around the equilateral triangle is considerably wider for neon than for argon.

A comprehensive study of Interatomic Coulombic Decay in argon dimers: Extracting R-dependent absolute decay rates from the experiment

“…A value of 3.7 eV corresponds to an internuclear distance of 3.9Å (7.4 a.u.) which is very close to the mean internuclear distance in the ground state of the argon dimer [30]. As most of the dimer shakeup states have a slightly attractive potential in the Franck-Condon region the dimer contracts during ICD.…”

Quantum Halo States in Helium Tetramers

“…41 Afterwards, when helium trimer structural properties were measured, the approach was qualified as feasible for the four-body sector. 24 Based on our predictions and the announcements from experimental groups we thus expect that the first molecular four-body quantum halo state could be experimentally confirmed in the near fu-ture.…”

Probing the dynamics of dissociation of methane following core ionization using three-dimensional molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions

“…This condition, called 'axial recoil' for diatomics may or may not be satisfied because the molecule can rotate before dissociating in some cases [13]. Polyatomic molecules can bend or rearrange bonds during dissociation, and such dynamics have been seen in COLTRIMS and other momentum imaging measurements [14][15][16]. Thus, polyatomic molecules have many more ways to fail the test of prompt and direct dissociation along the bonds being ruptured.…”