Laser-driven nanoplasmas in doped helium droplets: Local ignition and anisotropic expansion

Abstract

Doping a helium nanodroplet with a tiny xenon cluster of a few atoms only, sparks complete ionization of the droplet at laser intensities below the ionization threshold of helium atoms. As a result, the intrinsically inert and transparent droplet turns into a fast and strong absorber of infrared light. Microscopic calculations reveal a two-step mechanism to be responsible for the dramatic change: Avalanche-like ionization of the helium atoms on a femtosecond time scale, driven by field ionization due to the quickly charged xenon core is followed by resonant absorption enabled by an unusual cigar-shaped nanoplasma within the droplet.

arXiv comment4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Spectroscopy and dynamics in helium nanodroplets
• Ionization of clusters in intense laser pulses through collective electron dynamics
• Energy absorption of xenon clusters in helium nanodroplets under strong laser pulses

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Photoionizaton of Pure and Doped Helium Nanodroplets
• Long-lasting field-free alignment of large molecules inside helium nanodroplets
• Steplike intensity threshold behavior of extreme ionization in laser-driven Xe clusters
• Dopant induced ignition of helium nanodroplets in intense few-cycle laser pulses
• Ionization avalanching in clusters ignited by extreme-ultraviolet driven seed electrons
• Plasma Formation Dynamics in Intense Laser-Droplet Interaction
• Evolution of dopant-induced helium nanoplasmas
• Coulomb explosion of uniformly charged spheroids
• Probing the structure and dynamics of molecular clusters using rotational wavepackets
• Efficiency of Dopant-Induced Ignition of Helium Nanoplasmas
• Formation and relaxation of RbHe exciplexes on He nanodroplets studied by femtosecond pump and picosecond probe spectroscopy
• Proton ejection from molecular hydride clusters exposed to strong X-ray pulses
• Charging dynamics of dopants in helium nanoplasmas
• Diffraction imaging of light induced dynamics in xenon-doped helium nanodroplets
• Long-lasting XUV activation of helium nanodroplets for avalanche ionization
• Single-shot electron imaging of dopant-induced nanoplasmas
• Dopant-induced ignition of helium nanoplasmas -- a mechanistic study
• Anisotropic field ionization in nano-clusters mediated by Brunel-electron driven plasma waves