Direct Observation of Molecular Oxygen Production from Carbon Dioxide

TL;DR

This study reports the first direct experimental observation of molecular oxygen formation from carbon dioxide under strong laser fields, offering new insights into atmospheric chemistry relevant to planetary environments.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of O2 formation from CO2 in strong laser fields, supported by simulations suggesting molecular bending during ionization.

Findings

Direct observation of O2 formation from CO2

Supportive simulations of molecular bending

Implications for planetary atmosphere studies

Abstract

Oxygen ($O_2$) is one of the most important elements required to sustain life. The concentration of $O_2$ on Earth has been accumulated over millions of years and has a direct connection with that of $CO_2$. Further, $CO_2$ plays an important role in many other planetary atmospheres. Therefore, molecular reactions involving $CO_2$ are critical for studying the atmospheres of such planets. Existing studies on the dissociation of $CO_2$ are exclusively focused on the C--O bond breakage. Here we report first experiments on the direct observation of molecular Oxygen formation from $CO_2$ in strong laser fields with a reaction microscope. Our accompanying simulations suggest that $CO_2$ molecules may undergo bending motion during and after strong-field ionization which supports the molecular Oxygen formation process. The observation of the molecular Oxygen formation from $CO_2$ may trigger further experimental and theoretical studies on such processes with laser pulses, and provide hints in studies of the $O_2$ and $CO_2^+$ abundance in $CO_2$-dominated planetary atmospheres.