Multifragmentation of Highly Charged C60 Ions: Charge States and Fragment Energies

Abstract

C60-molecules are multi-ionised by Xe25+ projectiles at collision energies of 280 keV. The produced ions and fragments are analysed in coincidence with the charge state of the outgoing projectile ion. Intact molecular ions are formed in charge states at least up to q = 10; they are stable on a time scale of several µs. From the time-of-flight spectra, average fragment sizes and average kinetic energies are determined as a function of the number of electrons stabilised by the projectile. The kinetic energies of the atomic fragments are used to estimate the charge state of the parent ion C60q+. In the case of 11 stabilised electrons (Xe25+ → Xe14+), about 50 electrons are removed from the fullerene cage, which is in agreement with recent experimental results (Bernard et al, this volume).