paper

Effect of pulse duration on the x-ray emission from Ar clusters in intense laser fields

arXiv:0811.1361 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.78.053201

Abstract

We study experimentally and theoretically the production of characteristic Ka x-rays during the interaction of intense infrared laser pulse with large N~10^4-10^6 atoms/ argon clusters. We focus on the influence of laser intensity and pulse length on both the total x-ray yields and the charge-state distributions of the emitting cluster argon ions. An experimental optimization of the x-ray yield based on the setup geometry is presented and the role of the effective focal volume is investigated. Our theoretical model is based on a mean-field Monte-Carlo simulation and allows identifying the effective heating of a subensemble of electrons in strong fields as the origin of the observed x-ray emission. Well-controlled experimental conditions allow a quantitative bench marking of absolute x-ray yields as well as charge state distributions of ions having a K-shell vacancy. The presence of an optimum pulse duration that maximizes the x-ray yield at constant laser energy is found to be the result of the competition between the single cluster dynamics and the number of clusters participating in the emission.

12 pages

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