N-NO & NN-O bond cleavage dynamics in the N₂O²⁺

Synopsis N2O Coulomb explosion is initiated by single-photon double ionization with an ultrafast EUV pulse and is probed by delayed near-IR pulses. The competing two- and three-body dissociation dynamics are reflected in the time resolved branching ratios and in the three-body momentum correlation spectra. Channel resolved kinetic energy release spectra exhibit up to a 0.9 eV shift as a function of time delay – interpreted in terms of the long-bond distance difference between the potentials of a Rydberg ion state and its dication core.