We explore the formation of metastable ${\mathrm{CO}}_2^{2+}$ from linear and “bent” carbon dioxide by intense ultrashort laser pulses. In particular, we evaluate the fraction of these dications that survive to the detector and determine the lifetime of those that dissociate in flight through our apparatus. Curiously, the fraction of those dissociating in flight changes significantly when cooling the linear ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ target using a He carrier gas, while the lifetimes change only slightly. To determine these lifetimes we employ an improved method that takes into account the dissociation velocity of the ${\mathrm{O}}^{+}+{\mathrm{CO}}^{+}$ fragments in a self-consistent manner. We also determine the dissociation-in-flight lifetime of an initially bent ${\mathrm{CO}}_2^{2+}$ fragment of ${\mathrm{HCOOD}}^{2+}$ following rapid double hydrogen elimination.

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• Atomic & molecular processes in external fields
• Molecular dissociation
• Multiphoton or tunneling ionization & excitation
• Strong field ionization & excitation