Ionization and Expansion Dynamics of Atomic Clusters Irradiated with Short Intense VUV Pulses

Abstract

Kinetic Boltzmann equations are used to model the ionization and expansion dynamics of xenon clusters irradiated with short intense VUV pulses. This unified model includes predominant interactions that contribute to the cluster dynamics induced by this radiation. The dependence of the evolution dynamics on cluster size, Natoms = 20–90000, and pulse fluence, F = 0.05–1.5 J/cm2, corresponding to intensities in the range, 1012–1014 W/cm2 and irradiation times, ⩽50 fs, is investigated. The predictions obtained with our model are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. We find that during the exposure the cluster forms a shell structure consisting of a positively charged outer shell and a core of net charge equal to zero. The width of these shells depends on the cluster size. The charged outer shell is large within small clusters (Natoms = 20, 70), and its Coulomb explosion drives the expansion of these clusters. Within the large clusters (Natoms = 2500, 90000) the neutral core is large, and after the Coulomb explosion of the outer shell it expands hydrodynamically. Highly charged ions within the core recombine efficiently with electrons. As a result, we observe a large fraction of neutral atoms created within the core, its magnitude depending on the cluster size. To our knowledge, our model is the first and only one that gives a full and quantitatively accurate description of all of the experimental data collected from irradiated atomic clusters at 100 nm photon wavelength.