Proton ejection from molecular hydride clusters exposed to strong X-ray pulses

Abstract

Clusters consisting of small molecules containing hydrogen do eject fast protons when illuminated by short X-ray pulses. A suitable overall charging of the cluster controlled by the X-ray intensity induces electron migration from the surface to the bulk leading to efficient segregation of the protons and to a globally hindered explosion of the heavy atoms even outside the screened volume. We investigate this peculiar effect systematically along the iso-electronic sequence of methane over ammonia and water to the atomic limit of neon as a reference. In contrast to core-shell systems where the outer shell is sacrificed to reduce radiation damage, the intricate proton dynamics of hydride clusters allows one to keep the entire backbone of heavy atoms intact.

5 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Ionization and charge migration through strong internal fields in clusters exposed to intense X-ray pulses
• Laser-driven nanoplasmas in doped helium droplets: Local ignition and anisotropic expansion
• Dopant induced ignition of helium nanodroplets in intense few-cycle laser pulses
• Dynamics of photo-activated Coulomb complexes
• Many-electron dynamics triggered by massively parallel ionization

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Time-resolved formation of excited atomic and molecular states in XUV-induced nanoplasmas in ammonia clusters
• Prevailing features of X-ray induced molecular electron spectra revealed with fullerenes
• Introducing a new multi-particle collision method for the evolution of dense stellar systems. Crash-test N-body simulations
• Evolution and ion kinetics of a XUV-induced nanoplasma in ammonia clusters
• Tracing transient charges in expanding clusters