Coulomb explosion of CO2in an intense femtosecond laser field

The Coulomb explosion of CO 2 into multicharged atomic ions is investigated following the ejection of up to 9 electrons by an intense femtosecond laser field. The identification of several fragmentation channels O Z+ +C Z'+ +O Z"+ is performed from triple ion correlation experiments. As already observed for the Coulomb explosion of N 2 by a strong picosecond laser field. the measured kinetic energy releases are 50% weaker than the Coulomb repulsion energies calculated at the equilibrium internuclear distances. In addition, there is evidence for bending of the molecule during the explosion around the average linear structure. This experimental observation is tentatively assigned to bending vibrations arising from the violent laser-induced alignment of the molecule along the laser polarization direction before the explosion.