Collective Autoionization in Multiply-Excited Systems: A novel ionization process observed in Helium Nanodroplets
arXiv:1311.7514 · doi:10.1038/srep03621
Abstract
Free electron lasers (FELs) offer the unprecedented capability to study reaction dynamics and image the structure of complex systems. When multiple photons are absorbed in complex systems, a plasma-like state is formed where many atoms are ionized on a femtosecond timescale. If multiphoton absorption is resonantly-enhanced, the system becomes electronically-excited prior to plasma formation, with subsequent decay paths which have been scarcely investigated to date. Here, we show using helium nanodroplets as an example that these systems can decay by a new type of process, named collective autoionization. In addition, we show that this process is surprisingly efficient, leading to ion abundances much greater than that of direct single-photon ionization. This novel collective ionization process is expected to be important in many other complex systems, e.g. macromolecules and nanoparticles, exposed to high intensity radiation fields.
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- Bright continuously-tunable VUV source for ultrafast spectroscopy
- Time-resolved Ultrafast Interatomic Coulombic Decay in Superexcited Sodium-doped Helium Nanodroplets
- Relaxation dynamics in excited helium nanodroplets probed with high resolution, time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy
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- Detecting Low-Energy Interactions and the Effects of Energy Accumulation in Materials
- Plasmonic Resonant Intercluster Coulombic Decay
- Strong-field photoionization in two-center atomic systems
- Collective Energy Transfer to a Spectator Atom via Multi-Center Intermolecular Coulombic Decay