COMMENT ON ON THE IONIZATION AND DISSOCIATION OF NO2 BY SHORT INTENSELASER-PULSES

Data for the dissociation and ionisation of NO, with laser intensities up to 2.3 X 10(14) W cm(-2) are presented. The effects of variation i n intensity, wavelength and pulse width are discussed. For 90 fs pulse width the relative parent-ion yield is independent of the laser inten sity at 750 nm but shows a weak dependence at 375 nm. The parent-ion y ield is observed to increase as the laser pulse width decreases. The l onger wavelength of 750 nm produces a larger parent-ion yield in compa rison with 375 nm. This would suggest that pulse width and laser wavel ength are important parameters in shea-pulse laser mass spectrometry. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.