Ionization/dissociation of thiazole and thiazolidine induced by strong laser fields

The interaction of thiazole and thiazolidine with a strong (similar to2 x 1 0(16) W/cm(2)) fs laser field has been studied at lambda = 790 nm. by means of time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry. The observed relative abundance of the doubly charged intact parent ion in thiazolidine is higher than tha t of thiazole, while the laser-molecule coupling strength is found to be mu ch more efficient for the aromatic (thiazole) than the nonaromatic (thiazol idine) molecule. The mass spectra of thiazolidine are attributed to a combi nation of field ionization with subsequent multiphoton processes. It is als o concluded, that direct Coulomb explosion within the transient multiply ch arged parent ions leads to the production of multiply charged atomic ions, (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.