Explosion of C-60 irradiated with a high-intensity femtosecond laser pulse

We have studied the ion kinetic energy spectra produced by fragmentation of C-60 into single Cn+ ions in high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses at 78 0 nm. C-60 was observed to dissociate completely in the intensity range 5 x 10(14) W cm(-2) to 5 x 10(15) W cm(-1) producing ions from C+ to C4+ with kinetic energies up to 1 keV. For peak intensities <10(15) W cm(-2) the exp losion was found to be isotropic and the major features were reproduced by a model based on Coulomb explosion. At higher intensities, however, the kin etic energy distribution was found to be significantly anisotropic.