Coincidence mass spectrometry study of double ionization of anthracene by 70\xa0eV electron impact

Abstract

Double ionization of anthracene molecules by 70 eV electron impact results in a number of prominent fragmentations producing two singly ionized fragments. In our experiment, ionized fragments were detected using a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. A field programmable gate array was used for the timing and the recording of mass spectra on an event-by-event basis. A detailed model of the coincidence data acquisition was developed, enabling us to reliably obtain the map of true coincidences. Our measurements show that fragmentations for which the total number of carbon atoms in the two singly ionized fragments is even are generally significantly stronger than fragmentations for which the total is odd. No fragmentations are observed for a total number of 13 carbon atoms. There are only very weak fragmentations where one of the fragments only contains one carbon atom. Most of the fragments have 2 or 3 hydrogen atoms. There are several fragmentations in which the larger fragment has 9, 10, 11 or 12 carbon atoms and 5, 6, 7 or 8 hydrogen atoms. Fragments with only carbon atoms and no hydrogen atoms are not present, and only few fragmentations are observed with a fragment containing only one hydrogen atom.Graphical abstract