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Laser-cluster interaction: x-ray production by short laser pulses

C. Deiss·N. Rohringer·E. Lamour·C. Prigent·J. -P. Rozet·D. Vernhet·J. Burgdorfer
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Abstract

We investigate the heating of the quasi-free electrons in large rare gas clusters (N exceeding 10^5 atoms) by short laser pulses at moderate intensities (I~10^{15} Wcm^{-2}). We identify elastic large-angle backscattering of electrons at ionic cores in the presence of a laser field as an efficient heating mechanism resembling the Fermi shuttle. Its efficiency as well as the effect of collective electron motion, electron-impact ionization and cluster charging, are studied employing a mean-field classical transport simulation. Results for the absolute x-ray yields are in surprisingly good quantitative agreement with recent experimental results.

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C. Deiss, N. Rohringer, E. Lamour, C. Prigent, J. -P. Rozet, D. Vernhet, J. Burgdorfer. 2005-06-29. Laser-cluster interaction: x-ray production by short laser pulses. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.96.013203

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