Three-body fragmentation dynamics of carbon-dioxide dimers induced by intense femtosecond laser pulses

Three-body fragmentation process, (CO2)23+→CO2++CO++O+, was experimentally studied by coincidently measuring three-dimensional momentum vectors as well as kinetic energies of correlated fragmental ions. The results demonstrate that three-body fragmentation of (CO2)23+ occurs through a sequential fashion, in which the weak van der Waals bond breaks first and then one strong covalent bond.