A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Charge and Nuclear Dynamics Induced by Deep Inner-Shell Multiphoton Ionization of CH3I Molecules by Intense X-ray Free-Electron Laser Pulses
Authors: Motomura K, Kukk E, Fukuzawa H, Wada S, Nagaya K, Ohmura S, Mondal S, Tachibanai T, Ito Y, Koga R, Sakai T, Matsunami K, Rudenko A, Nicolas C, Liu XJ, Miron C, Zhang YZ, Jiang YH, Chen JH, Anandl M, Kim DE, Tono K, Yabashi M, Yao M, Ueda K
Publisher: AMER CHEMICAL SOC
Publication year: 2015
Journal: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Journal name in source: JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
Journal acronym: J PHYS CHEM LETT
Volume: 6
Issue: 15
First page : 2944
Last page: 2949
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 1948-7185
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b01205
In recent years, free-electron lasers operating in the true X-ray regime have opened up access to the femtosecond-scale dynamics induced by deep inner-shell ionization. We have investigated charge creation and transfer dynamics in the context of molecular Coulomb explosion of a single molecule, exposed to sequential deep inner-shell ionization within an ultrashort (10 fs) X-ray pulse. The target molecule was CH3I, methane sensitized to X-rays by halogenization with a heavy element, iodine. Time-of-flight ion spectroscopy and coincident ion analysis was employed to investigate, via the properties of the atomic fragments, single-molecule charge states of up to +22. Experimental findings have been compared with a parametric model of simultaneous Coulomb explosion and charge transfer in the molecule. The study demonstrates that including realistic charge dynamics is imperative when molecular Coulomb explosion experiments using short-pulse facilities are performed.