Separation of cis and trans geometric isomers by Coulomb explosion imaging
Abstract
Isomers, i.e. molecules with the same chemical formula but different chemical structure, play an important role in many biological processes. Recently, it was shown that it is possible to identify different isomers of a chiral molecule by Coulomb explosion imaging. Here, we show that by imaging the Coulomb explosion of C2 H2 Br2 molecules after inner-shell photoionization, we are able to separate a mixture of cis and trans structures using the momentum correlation between ionic fragments measured in coincidence. Furthermore, we used this capability to investigate the isomer-selective photoionization and fragmentation dynamics of C2 H2 Br2 after Br (3d) ionization. Coulomb explosion simulation results for momentum correlation as well as kinetic energies match closely the experimental results.
This project is supported by the DOE, Office of Science, BES, Division of Chemical, Geological and Biological Sciences under Award Number DE-FG02-86ER13491 (U.A., B.K., V.K., A.R., D.R.) and Award Number DE-SC0012376 (H.X., N.B.).- Publication:
-
APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016APS..DMP.H8006A