The interaction of intense laser pulses with nanometer scale atomic clusters has been an active area of study since the advent of amplified femtosecond lasers. In the case of infrared irradiation of noble gas clusters, direct field-driven ionization results in the ejection of energetic electrons, high ion charge states, and Coulomb explosion of the ion core of the clusters. These processes result from electron motion driven by the cluster potential and the large ponderomotive potential of the laser field. When extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses interact with clusters, the mechanisms responsible for the infrared response are 'turned off' because the ponderomotive potential is very small. We have conducted cluster experiments at 38nm using focused XUV pulses produced by high harmonic generation with a 15TW Ti:Sapphire laser. We measured the charge states and kinetic energy spectra of ions produced in the interaction, and observe substantial ion population up to Xe⁵⁺, with a small number of Xe⁶⁺-Xe⁸⁺ ions produced by collisional ionization by hot plasma electrons. The ion kinetic energy spectrum indicates a hydrodynamic expansion at an ion temperature of 8eV. This is in stark contrast to intense infrared/cluster interactions, where clusters are stripped of electrons to a large degree and expand by Coulomb forces, resulting in far higher ion kinetic energy for similar degrees of ionization. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/10580 |
| Date | 18 March 2011 |
| Creators | Murphy, Brendan Francis, 1976- |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | electronic |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works. |
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