Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 31: Interaction with strong or short laser pulses IV
A 31.7: Talk
Thursday, March 15, 2012, 12:15–12:30, V57.05
Dopant-induced ignition and expansion dynamics of He nanodroplets in intense few-cycle NIR pulses — Siva Rama Krishnan1, Lutz Fechner1, Manuel Kremer1, Vandana Sharma1, Bettina Fischer1, Nicolas Camus1, Thomas Pfeifer1, Jagannath Jha2, Krishnamurthi Manchikanti2, Claus-Dieter Schröter1, Robert Moshammer1, Joachim Ullrich1, Frank Stienkemeier3, and •Marcel Mudrich3 — 1Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany — 2Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1 Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400005, India — 3Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Straße 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
We report our investigations on dopant-induced ignition (DII) of He nanodroplets by intense few-cycle (10 fs) near-infrared (NIR) pulses. DII is triggered by less than 10 dopant Xe atoms residing at the center of the nanodroplet. This results in the complete ionization of a nanodroplet containing about 10000 He atoms, which is otherwise transparent to these pulses. Our studies demonstrate a very efficient energy transfer from intense NIR laser fields to the droplet nanoplasma on a sub-10 fs timescale for the first time. Further, the consequences of DII on the ionic expansion dynamics of these doped nanodroplets occurring on ps timescales is also examined. Thus, we present a complete picture of the intense NIR ionization dynamics of doped He nanodroplets from sub-10fs to a few picoseconds.