Direct observation of excited state fragments following molecular ionization and dissociation in strong fields

Summary form only given. Strong field ionization of molecules has only recently been systematically studied. It has widely been assumed, for the purposes of analysis, that the dissociation products of a molecule are in their electronic ground state. For the first time, in this paper we show evidence that the dissociation fragments can be in excited electronic states. These results were obtained using a new technique called correlated ion spectroscopy where the potential energy curve of a molecule can be mapped out by using a pump and probe pulse which allow us to identify certain dissociation pathways.