Multichannel dissociative ionization of ethanol in intense ultraviolet laser fields: Energy correlation between photoelectron emission and fragment recoil

We investigate multichannel dissociative ionization of ethanol in intense ultraviolet laser fields using a photoelectron-photoion coincidence momentum imaging technique. Product channels are clearly separated with detected photoions, and channel-specific photoelectron spectra exhibit multiple spectral components unambiguously assigned to four- and five-photon ionization to the electronic ground state and the electronically excited state. We measure kinetic energy distributions of fragment ions as a function of the energy of a correlated photoelectron to reveal how much energy is provided to the fragment recoil of fragment ions in the course of photoelectron emission and subsequent electronic excitation. Subsequent electronic excitation rather than photoelectron emission governs the internal energy of ethanol cations. The role of subsequent electronic excitation becomes more decisive as the laser intensity increases.

Automated summary

In this study, multichannel dissociative ionization of ethanol in intense ultraviolet laser fields was investigated using a photoelectron-photoion coincidence momentum imaging technique. It was found that subsequent electronic excitation rather than photoelectron emission determines the internal energy of ethanol cations.