Strong field induced ion and electron emission from size-selected metal clusters

Abstract

Single-sized clusters of Ag309- are accumulated within a digital Paul trap and exposed to intense optical laser pulses, leading to the formation of nanoplasmas of known initial conditions, not yet feasible. Using field-free diagnostics, the resulting Coulomb explosion is analyzed, giving electron distributions and charge-state resolved ion energy spectra. Experiments on the well-defined target result in comprehensive information on the particle emission and reveals details of nanoplasma dynamics not available before. These are for example the particle size-specific intensity-dependent transition towards a fully ionized plasma state as well as the subtle interplay between electron and ion dynamics, which becomes apparent in the intensity-dependent development of maximum and average values of energy and charge state.