Molecular structure measurements of swift complex ions traversing thin carbon foils

The final data and analysis of the Coulomb explosion of two molecular systems, C3(+0-) and NCO(+0-), each measured in the positive, neutral and negative charge state are reported. In addition, a measurement was made with the CH2(+) ion and preliminary results are reported. Analysis of the three C3(+0-) species showed them all to have the same intranuclear separation found in normal neutral C3; 2.5(a)A, and similarly for the three NCO(+0-) species, except that the separation was rather small; 2.0(1)A. Preliminary analysis of the CH2(+) data indicates that the best fit included angle, alpha sub i, between the two hydrogen atoms is 122 deg (3) with an average absolute deviation angle from equilibrium, delta alpa sub i, of 23 deg (2) for a molecular model with linear uniform oscillation, and alpha sub i, = 126 deg (3), delta alpha sub i = 19 deg (2), for a model with simple harmonic oscillation. These preliminary values compare well with the measured value of 115 deg for neutral CH2.