# Alignment, Orientation, and Coulomb Explosion of Difluoroiodobenzene Studied with the Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) Camera

## TL;DR

This study uses advanced imaging techniques to investigate how laser fields can align and orient difluoroiodobenzene molecules, revealing detailed Coulomb explosion dynamics with high-resolution detection.

## Contribution

It demonstrates the application of the Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) camera for simultaneous detection of ions and electrons in molecular alignment and Coulomb explosion experiments.

## Key findings

- Achieved high degrees of molecular alignment and orientation.
- Compared Coulomb explosion processes at different wavelengths.
- Recorded detailed ion momentum distributions and time-of-flight data.

## Abstract

Laser-induced adiabatic alignment and mixed-field orientation of 2,6-difluoroiodobenzene (C6H3F2I) molecules are probed by Coulomb explosion imaging following either near-infrared strong-field ionization or extreme-ultraviolet multi-photon inner-shell ionization using free-electron laser pulses. The resulting photoelectrons and fragment ions are captured by a double-sided velocity map imaging spectrometer and projected onto two position-sensitive detectors. The ion side of the spectrometer is equipped with the Pixel Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) camera, a time-stamping pixelated detector that can record the hit positions and arrival times of up to four ions per pixel per acquisition cycle. Thus, the time-of-flight trace and ion momentum distributions for all fragments can be recorded simultaneously. We show that we can obtain a high degree of one- and three-dimensional alignment and mixed- field orientation, and compare the Coulomb explosion process induced at both wavelengths.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1706.08376