Comparison of charge state-selected momentum distributions extracted from the experimental partial covariance map of N<sub>2</sub> fragments (blue) and obtained from the simulations (red) O Kornilov M Siano L Foucar J Klei A Rouzée K Motomura C P Schulz M Rosenblatt M Eckstein A Lübcke 10.6084/m9.figshare.1012481.v1 https://iop.figshare.com/articles/figure/_Comparison_of_charge_state_selected_momentum_distributions_extracted_from_the_experimental_partial_/1012481 <p><strong>Figure 9.</strong> Comparison of charge state-selected momentum distributions extracted from the experimental partial covariance map of N<sub>2</sub> fragments (blue) and obtained from the simulations (red). The corresponding charge pairs are indicated in the header of each part of the figure. The distributions are individually scaled for better visibility. The units of the parallel momentum such as squaring the value gives kinetic energy of the fragment in eV.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>Single-shot time-of-flight spectra for Coulomb explosion of N<sub>2</sub> and I<sub>2</sub> molecules have been recorded at the Free Electron LASer in Hamburg (FLASH) and have been analysed using a partial covariance mapping technique. The partial covariance analysis unravels a detailed picture of all significant Coulomb explosion pathways, extending up to the N<sup>4+</sup>–N<sup>5+</sup> channel for nitrogen and up to the I<sup>8+</sup>–I<sup>9+</sup> channel for iodine. The observation of the latter channel is unexpected if only sequential ionization processes from the ground state ions are considered. The maximum kinetic energy release extracted from the covariance maps for each dissociation channel shows that Coulomb explosion of nitrogen molecules proceeds much faster than that of the iodine. The N<sub>2</sub> ionization dynamics is modelled using classical trajectory simulations in good agreement with the outcome of the experiments. The results suggest that covariance mapping of the Coulomb explosion can be used to measure the intensity and pulse duration of free-electron lasers.</p> 2013-08-13 00:00:00 charge Free Electron LASer covariance mapping technique nitrogen molecules proceeds iodine ground state ions simulation covariance analysis unravels Coulomb explosion pathways coulomb explosion flash momentum sequential ionization processes Atomic Physics Molecular Physics