Absolute multiple ionization cross sections of water and carbon monoxide molecules induced by very high-q fast projectiles (q/v > 1)

• Multiple ionization cross sections of H2O and CO impacted by Xe44+ are calculated.
• Good agreement is observed between calculation results and experimental data.
• High-order ionizations of CO are influenced by molecular orientation.
• High-order ionizations of H2O are not influenced by molecular orientation.

Molecular properties, including the orientation of molecular axis, electron population numbers of atoms and ions in molecular ions and ionization energies at every ionization stage, are considered to generate a relatively simple model to calculate the absolute multiple ionization cross sections of molecules impacted by the very high-q fast projectiles (q/v > 1). The multiple ionization probabilities are obtained under the framework of independent event model (IEVM). Calculation results are consistent with available experimental data. According to the picture of sequential release process, the high-order ionization of CO will be significantly influenced by molecular orientation, while the multiple ionization of H2O will be quite different and totally isotropic.

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