Structural determination of argon trimer

Abstract

Rare gas clusters are model systems to investigate structural properties at finite size. However, their structures are difficult to be determined with available experimental techniques because of the strong coupling between the vibration and the rotation. Here we experimentally investigated multiple ionization and fragmentation dynamics of argon trimer by ultrashort intense laser fields and reconstructed their structures with Coulomb explosion technique. The measured structure distribution was compared with our finite-temperature ab initio calculations and the discrepancy was discussed. The present study provides a guidance for the development of theoretical methods for exploring the geometric structure of rare gas clusters.