Ejection of triatomic molecular ion H3+ from methyl chloride in an intense femtosecond laser field

Ejection of H3+ and 35Cl+ from CH3Cl molecule is investigated and the Coulomb explosion channels are confirmed by their kinetic energy release and angular distributions. The fragment anisotropy of H3+ ejection can be attributed to the dynamic alignment of CH 3 35Cl2+ induced by femtosecond laser field, the non-zero H3+ ejection angle with respect to the a-axis of CH3 35Cl2+ and the remarkable overall rotation of the precursor species [CCl+.H3+]. Lifetimes and geometries of precursor species [CCl+.H3+] at different laser intensities are investigated. Competition between Coulomb explosion channels with H3+ and 35Cl + ejection is also discussed. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.