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Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 023001 (2005) [4 pages]

Multiple Ionization of Rare Gas Atoms Irradiated with Intense VUV Radiation

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H. Wabnitz1 *, A. R. B. de Castro2,3, P. Gürtler1, T. Laarmann1 *, W. Laasch1, J. Schulz1 ‡, and T. Möller1 §
1Hamburger Synchrotronstrahlungslabor HASYLAB at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
2LNLS, 13084-971 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
3IFGW-UNICAMP, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

Received 29 January 2004; published 18 January 2005

The interaction of intense vacuum-ultraviolet radiation from a free-electron laser with rare gas atoms is investigated. The ionization products of xenon and argon atomic beams are analyzed with time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. At 98 nm wavelength and ∼1013   W/cm2 multiple charged ions up to Xe6+ (Ar4+) are detected. From the intensity dependence of multiple charged ion yields the mechanisms of multiphoton processes were derived. In the range of ∼1012–1013   W/cm2 the ionization is attributed to sequential multiphoton processes. The production of multiple charged ions saturates at 5–30 times lower power densities than at 193 and 564 nm wavelength, respectively.


©2005 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.023001
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.023001
PACS: 32.80.Rm, 42.65.–k

* Present address: CEA-SPAM, Centre d'Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France. Electronic address: wabnitz@drecam.cea.fr
† Present address: Max Born Institute, Max-Born-Strasse 2a, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
‡ Present address: MAX-lab, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden.
§ Present address: Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstrasse 36, 10623 Berlin, Germany.

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