2002/07/02 by Christian Siedschlag, Jan M. Rost, Jan-Michael Rost · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma #physics.atm-clus
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.67.013404
arxiv created 2002/07/02 · openalex publication_date 2003/01/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
A detailed theoretical investigation of rare-gas atom clusters under intense short laser pulses reveals that the mechanism of energy absorption is akin to enhanced ionization first discovered for diatomic molecules. The phenomenon is robust under changes of the atomic element (neon, argon, krypton, xenon), the number of atoms in the cluster (16--30 atoms have been studied), and the fluence of the laser pulse. In contrast to molecules it does not disappear for circular polarization. We develop an analytical model relating the pulse length for maximum ionization to characteristic parameters of the cluster.