Two, three and four photon absorption of naphthalene

Abstract

The effects of the multiple-photon absorption on the ionization, MPI, and dissociation, MPD, of Naphthalene were investigated. Laser radiation of 266 nm at pulse widths of 4.5 ns and intensities of the order of 10$^{8}$-10$^{10}$ W$\cdot $cm$^{ - 2}$, and carrier gases, CGs, such as helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon were used. In order to identify the produced ions, the time of flight mass spectrometry technique, ToF-MS, was employed. From the experimental data the number of photons absorbed was calculated, being two at low energies per pulse, less than 1.0 mJ, where the parent ion, C$_{10}$H$_{8}^{ + }$, was detected, in agreement with the ionization energy of Naphthalene, 8.14 eV. Increasing the energy per pulse to more than 1.0 mJ, new ions were observed, and three and four photons processes were identified. The effect of the CG was also investigated: the ion yields change as a function of energy per pulse and the CG. A sequence of pathways for photoionization and photodissociation was proposed taking into account the energy per pulse, number of absorbed photons and normalized ion yields.