Ignition of a helium nanoplasma by x-ray multiple ionization of a heavy rare-gas core

2020/05/06 by Dominik Schomas, C. Medina, Schomas, D. +31
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Clusters (physics.atm-clus) #Atomic and Molecular Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2005.02944

openalex publication_date 2020/05/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

The dynamics of an x-ray-ionized two-component core-shell nanosystem is probed using doped helium (He) nanodroplets. First, a soft x-ray pump pulse selectively inner-shell ionizes the core cluster formed of heavier rare-gas atoms, causing electron migration from the He shell to the highly charged core. This ignites a He nanoplasma which is then driven by an intense near-infrared probe pulse. The ultrafast charge redistribution, evidenced by the rise of He⁺ and He²⁺ ion yields from the nanoplasma within <70 fs, leads to strong damping of the core cluster expansion. Thus, He droplets act as efficient tampers that reduce the radiation damage of embedded nanostructures, a property that could be exploited for improving coherent diffraction images.

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