MOMENTUM IMAGING OF GROUND STATE AND VIBRATIONALLY EXCITED H2O USING A
FEMTOSECOND LASER PULSE OF INTENSITY 1017W/cm2


J H Sanderson, A El-Zein, W A Bryan, W R Newell, I D WilliamsH, P McKennaH,
P F Taday*, A J Langley* 


Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower
Street, London WC1E 6BT UK
HThe Queens University of Belfast, Belfast Northern Ireland UK 
*Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot,
Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX


The new 50fs 10mJ ASTRA laser at the rutherford Appleton Laboratory, whcich
can generate more than 1017W/cm2 of focused intensity has been used to
multiply ionise H2O up to six times, and the molecular geometry of the
fragmenting molicule  monitored by momentum imaging.  In addition hot H2O
has been fragmented in an attempt to observe the ensemble of vibrational
geometries present