Laser induced fluorine elimination from CF₃⁺.

The fragmentation of CF₃⁺ molecular ions is studied by probing a fast (few keV) CF₃⁺ ion beam with intense femtosecond laser pulses (790- and 395-nm center wavelength). The charged and neutral molecular fragments are detected employing coincidence three-dimensional momentum imaging. We investigate the competition between two fluorine elimination channels, CF₂⁺ + F and CF₂²⁺ + F, with and without ionization. We also observe double fluorine elimination channels, CF⁺ + F + F and CF²⁺ + F + F, amongst other three-body breakup channels. Curiously, we note significant contributions of the charge-asymmetric fragmentation channel, CF₂²⁺ + F, in addition to the charge-symmetric breakup channel, CF₂⁺ + F⁺.