The dissociation pathways of N2+ in intense femtosecond laser fields.

Using a neutral N2 beam as target, this paper studies the dissociation of N+2 in intense femtosecond laser fields (45 fs, [?]1 x 1016 W/cm2) at the laser wavelength of 800 nm based on the time-of-flight mass spectra of N+ fragment ions. The angular distributions of N+ and the laser power dependence of N+ yielded from different dissociation pathways show that the dissociation mechanisms mainly proceed through the couplings between the metastable states (A, B and C) and the upper excited states of N+2. A coupling model of light-dressed potential energy curves of N+2 is used to interpret the kinetic energy release of N+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]