Electron diffraction self imaging of molecular fragmentation in two step double ionization of water

Abstract

We doubly ionize H2O by single photon absorption at 43 eV leading to H+ + OH+. A direct double ionization and a sequential process in which single ionization is followed by rapid dissociation into a proton and an autoionizing OH* are identified. We obtain information about the internuclear distance at which the decay of the OH * occurs from the angular distribution of the autoionization electron. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.