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Chemistry

Charge-partition pathways in strong-field photoionization of carbonyl sulfide monomers and dimers

Chao He, Xinyue Zhang, Cangtao Yin, Markus Meuwly, Stefan Willitsch

Featured July 14, 2026

Original Paper

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Simply

Powerful lasers zapped OCS molecules and their clusters, showing how charge distribution dictates whether a single molecule breaks apart or if a cluster shares and separates its charges, revealing new ways molecules fall apart.

In depth
This study uses velocity-map imaging to directly compare how carbonyl sulfide (OCS) molecules break apart when hit by intense laser pulses, distinguishing between intramolecular dissociation in single molecules and intermolecular charge separation in weakly bound clusters. The authors identify specific fragmentation pathways and their kinetic energy signatures, providing a unified view of charge dynamics beyond isolated molecules.

Key Takeaways

  • 1
    The paper establishes a unified experimental framework using Velocity-Map Imaging (VMI) to directly compare strong-field ionization and fragmentation dynamics in OCS monomers and dimers.
  • 2
    It identifies distinct dissociation pathways for singly and doubly ionized OCS monomers, including two-body breakup and Coulomb explosion, and for multiply charged OCS dimers, involving various charge-separation channels.
  • 3
    The study elucidates how intermolecular charge-partition dynamics control strong-field ionization in weakly bound OCS dimers, revealing unique kinetic energy signatures for different charge-separated fragments.

Conceptual Flow

HIGH LEVEL
1
Methodology: How was it done?

Scientists shot lasers at molecules and used a special camera to see how the pieces flew apart, then used computers to understand why.

Molecule Beam
Laser Pulse
Hit and Break
Fragment Detector
Computer Analysis
2
Results: What did they find?

They found that single molecules just break, but groups of molecules share their charges and break in more complex ways, like tiny explosions.

Single Molecule Breakup
Cluster Charge Sharing
Reveals
New Charge Dynamics
Unified Fragmentation View