Fragmentation of benzene in an intense Ti : sapphire laser pulse

The fragmentation of benzene molecules in a linearly polarized Ti : Sapphir e laser pulse was studied. It was found that the fragmentation of the molec ules is the result of MPI of the inner shell electrons which results in a m olecular ion in an excited state. Through radiationless transition the popu lation is transferred to the highly excited levels of the ground electronic state. The molecular ion created in this manner is not stable and dissocia tes rapidly. The model was tested by comparing the measured laser intensity dependent abundance of C4H4+ fragments with the calculated ones and excell ent agreement was obtained with the experimental results.