Efficient ejection of H3(+) from hydrocarbon molecules induced by ultrashort intense laser fields.

The ejection processes of hydrogen molecular ion H(3)(+) from 12 kinds of hydrocarbon molecular species, methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, acetone, acetaldehyde, methane, ethane, ethylene, allene, 1,3-butadiene, and cyclohexane, induced by intense laser fields (approximately 10(14) W/cm(2)) have been investigated by time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. The observation of the H(3)(+) production with the kinetic energy range of 3.5-5.0 eV from doubly ionized ethylene, allene, 1,3-butadiene, and cyclohexane, which have no methyl groups, showed the existence of the ultrafast hydrogen migration processes that enables three hydrogen atoms to come together to form H(3)(+) within a hydrocarbon molecule.