Session CP1 - Poster Session II.
POSTER session, Monday afternoon, November 15
Room Exhibit Hall A, SCC
We investigated small Xe clusters subject to intense ultrashort laser radiation. The dynamics and evolution of the cluster plasma is described by a relativistic time-dependent 3-D molecular dynamics model and a detailed atomic physics model describing the formation of hollow Xe atoms. At a peak laser intensity of (1-5)x10^20 W/cm^2 the model predicts inversions in a number of states distributed in several ionization stages in agreement with experimental observations [1,2]. The particle simulation model suggests that at laser intensities below 10^20 W/cm^2 the outer electrons form a low-density uniform plasma, while at higher intensities the electrons may behave collectively in a manner similar to that described by the "collective oscillation model" [1,2]. [1] W. A. Schroeder, F. G. Omenetto, A. B. Borisov, J. W. Longworth, A. McPherson, C. Jordan, K. Boyer, K. Kondo, and C. K. Rhodes, J. Phys. B 31, 5031 (1998) [2] W. A. Schroeder, T. R. Nelson, A. B. Borisov, J. W. Longworth, K. Boyer, and C. K. Rhodes, J. Phys. B 34, 297 (2001)