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

Single-sized clusters of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:msubsup><a:mi>Ag</a:mi><a:mrow><a:mn>309</a:mn></a:mrow><a:mo>−</a:mo></a:msubsup></a:math> 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. Published by the American Physical Society 2024