Ejection of triatomic molecular ion H3+ from methyl chloride in an intense femtosecond laser field

Abstract Ejection of H 3 + and 35 Cl + from CH 3 Cl molecule is investigated and the Coulomb explosion channels are confirmed by their kinetic energy release and angular distributions. The fragment anisotropy of H 3 + ejection can be attributed to the dynamic alignment of CH 3 35 Cl 2+ induced by femtosecond laser field, the non-zero H 3 + ejection angle with respect to the a -axis of CH 3 35 Cl 2+ and the remarkable overall rotation of the precursor species [CCl + … H 3 + ]. Lifetimes and geometries of precursor species [CCl + … H 3 + ] at different laser intensities are investigated. Competition between Coulomb explosion channels with H 3 + and 35 Cl + ejection is also discussed.