Capturing the stereoconfiguration of (C6H6)2Ar by Coulomb-explosion imaging

The configurations of the (C6H6)2Ar (Bz2Ar) complex are identified by femtosecond laser-induced Coulomb explosion, in which the produced three-body coincident ionic momenta (Bz+ + Bz+ + Ar+) is measured. The triangular structure is clearly determined by coincident momenta combined with quantum chemistry calculations, arising from classical trajectory simulations of eight promising configurations. Additionally, the bond distances between Ar and two Bz molecules are retrieved from the measured coincident momenta. The good agreement between measurement and computational calculations strongly suggests the laser-induced Coulomb explosion is a powerful approach for imaging configurations of the weakly bound molecular clusters.