Coincidence imaging of Coulomb explosion of CS2 in intense laser fields

The coincidence imaging technique is applied to direct determination of the momentum vectors of all the fragment ions produced through every event of the Coulomb explosion of a single molecular ion, CS2z+ (z=2–4) formed in intense laser fields (∼60 fs, 0.36×1015 W/cm2). The molecular structure of CS23+ just before the Coulomb explosion, CS23+→S++C++S+, is reconstructed from the measured momentum vectors of the fragment ions. The mean C–S bond length of 〈r〉=2.5 Å and the azimuthally averaged S–C–S bond angle, 〈γ〉=145°, thus determined indicate that structural deformation occurs to a large extent in the intense laser fields.