Metastable triply charged diatomic molecules produced with femtosecond pulses

We show that ultrashort pulse strong field multiphoton ionization efficiently produces metastable highly charged molecules such as metastable diatomic trications I 3 + 2 , Br 3 + 2 , and Cl 3 + 2 . The efficiency of stable trication production decreases rapidly with increasing pulse duration. Weak pre- or post-pulse irradiation also prevents efficient production or survival of trications. We propose strong-field femtosecond Raman spectroscopy to determine trication vibrational frequencies.

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