Generation of ultrashort keV Ar+ ion pulses via femtosecond laser photoionization
Open Access
- 8 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by IOP Publishing in New Journal of Physics
- Vol. 23 (3), 033023
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abe443
Abstract
Ion beams with energies in the keV regime are widely utilized in solid-state physics, but the ultrafast dynamics triggered by an ion impact onto a solid surface is to date exclusively accessible via simulations based on many untested assumptions and model parameters. A possible experimental acess rests on the availability of a laser-synchronized ion source delivering sufficiently short ion pulses for time resolved pump-probe experiments. Here, we demonstrate a new miniaturized ion optical bunching setup for the creation of rare gas ion pulses using strong-field femtosecond laser photoionization. Neutral Ar gas atoms at room temperature are intercepted by a 50 fs, 800 nm laser pulse focused to ~10 μm spot size. We demonstrate the generation of monoenergetic 2-keV Ar+ ion pulses with 180 ps duration (FWHM) at laser peak intensities around 1014 W/cm-2 and of multiply charged Arq+ ions (q = 1-5) at higher laser intensities. The results are in good agreement with detailed ion trajectory simulations, which show that the temporal resolution is essentially limited by the initial (thermal) velocity spread of the generated photo-ions, indicating the possibility to achieve even better time resolution by cooling the gas prior to ionization.Keywords
Funding Information
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (278162697)
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- Room-temperature entanglement between single defect spins in diamondNature Physics, 2013
- Kinetic excitation of metallic solids: Progress towards a microscopic modelNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2011
- Predicting Kinetic Electron Emission in Molecular Dynamics Simulations of SputteringThe Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2010
- Multiple ionization of Ne and Ar by intense 25 fs laser pulses: few-electron dynamics studied with ion momentum spectroscopyJournal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2006
- Room-temperature coherent coupling of single spins in diamondNature Physics, 2006
- Separation of Recollision Mechanisms in Nonsequential Strong Field Double Ionization of Ar: The Role of Excitation TunnelingPhysical Review Letters, 2001
- Spatially dependent multiphoton multiple ionizationPhysical Review A, 1996
- Laser ionization of noble gases by Coulomb-barrier suppressionJournal of the Optical Society of America B, 1991
- Tunneling ionization of noble gases in a high-intensity laser fieldPhysical Review Letters, 1989
- Application of molecular dynamics simulations to the study of ion-bombarded metal surfacesCritical Reviews in Solid State and Materials Sciences, 1988