Cluster assistant generation of C2+ and C3+ ions in nanosecond laser ionization of seeded benzene beam

Cluster assisted photoionization processes of benzene, which was seeded in argon, induced by an intense 25 ns Nd-YAG laser has been studied by means of time-of-flight mass spectrometry. At the laser intensity of 1011 W/cm2, multicharged ions Cq+ (q=2–3) with kinetic energy up to 150 eV were observed in the mass spectra. Strong evidences support that these ions are formed in the Coulomb explosion of multicharged benzene cluster ions.