2011/07/22 by S. R. Krishnan, Lutz Fechner, L. Fechner +20
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #physics.atm-clus
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.173402
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 173402 (2011)
arxiv created 2011/07/22 · openalex publication_date 2011/10/19 · arxiv updated 2011/12/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We demonstrate ultrafast resonant energy absorption of rare-gas doped He nanodroplets from intense few-cycle (~10 fs) laser pulses. We find that less than 10 dopant atoms "ignite" the droplet to generate a nonspherical electronic nanoplasma resulting ultimately in complete ionization and disintegration of all atoms, although the pristine He droplet is transparent for the laser intensities applied. Our calculations at those intensities reveal that the minimal pulse length required for ignition is about 9 fs.