Extreme dynamics and energetics of Coulomb explosion of Xe clusters
Abstract
Unique features of Coulomb explosion (CE) of many-electron elemental Xen (n = 13–2171) clusters driven by ultraintense and ultrashort near-infrared laser pulses (peak intensities 1015–1020W cm−2 and pulse lengths of 10–100 fs) manifest ion dynamics and energetics in the extreme, with ultrafast (5–15 Å fs−1) velocities and ultrahigh (keV–1 MeV) energies. Relations were established between the CE attributes, obtained from molecular dynamics simulations and from electrostatic models, and the extreme cluster inner ionization levels (5–36 per ion), in conjunction with the laser parameters required for the attainment of complete outer ionization, which was approximated by cluster vertical ionization (