Multiple ionization and fragmentation dynamics of molecular iodine studied in IR-XUV pump-probe experiments

The ionization and fragmentation dynamics of iodine molecules (I-2)
are traced using very intense (similar to 10(14) W cm(-2))
ultra-short (similar to 60 fs) light pulses with 87 eV photons of
the Free-electron LASer at Hamburg (FLASH) in combination with a
synchronized femtosecond optical laser. Within a pump-probe scheme
the IR pulse initiates a molecular fragmentation and then, after an
adjustable time delay, the system is exposed to an intense FEL
pulse. This way we follow the creation of highly-charged molecular
fragments as a function of time, and probe the dynamics of
multi-photon absorption during the transition from a molecule to
individual atoms.