title: Correlated electronic decay in expanding clusters triggered by intense XUV pulses from a Free-Electron-Laser.
abstract: Irradiation of nanoscale clusters and large molecules with intense laser pulses transforms them into highly-excited non- equilibrium states. The dynamics of intense laser-cluster interaction is encoded in electron kinetic energy spectra, which contain signatures of direct photoelectron emission as well as emission of thermalized nanoplasma electrons. In this work we report on a so far not observed spectrally narrow bound state signature in the electron kinetic energy spectra from mixed Xe core - Ar shell clusters ionized by intense extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses from a free-electron-laser. This signature is attributed to the correlated electronic decay (CED) process, in which an excited atom relaxes and the excess energy is used to ionize the same or another excited atom or a nanoplasma electron. By applying the terahertz field streaking principle we demonstrate that CED-electrons are emitted at least a few picoseconds after the ionizing XUV pulse has ended. Following the recent finding of CED in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared laser pulses, our observation of CED in the XUV range suggests that this process is of general relevance for the relaxation dynamics in laser produced nanoplasmas.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, ER 1-1, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oelze
authors.affiliation: Max-Born-Institut, Max-Born-Straße 2a, 12489 Berlin, Germany.|Department of Physics, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schütte
authors.affiliation: Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, EW 3-1, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 36, EW 3-1, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wieland
authors.affiliation: Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Frühling
authors.affiliation: Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.|Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drescher
authors.affiliation: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alaa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Shemmary
authors.affiliation: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Golz
authors.affiliation: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Nikola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stojanovic
authors.affiliation: Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, ER 1-1, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krikunova