Kinetic Energy Distributions Of The Fragment Ions From Multiply Ionized C2h6 As Functions Of The Charge State Of The Intermediate States

Here, we report the kinetic energy distributions (KEDs) of the fragment ions produced from multiply ionized ethane (C2H6) molecules in single electron capture collisions with 1.2 MeV C2+. To systematically investigate the fragmentation dynamics, the KEDs were obtained as functions of the charge state of the intermediate C2H6r+* ions r transiently generated prior to fragmentation. r was determined from coincidence measurement of the fragment ions and the number of emitted electrons. The KEDs are drastically different depending on the number of broken C-H bonds. The underlying causes are explained by the variation of the relative contributions of the multiply ionized states and preferential fragmentation pathways. For instance, CHn+ fragment ions with smaller n exhibit lower KEs because they are likely to be correlated with H+ emission, which carries away a large portion of the KE release. In addition, we report the KEDs of H-3(+) produced from doubly and triply charged states.