Ultrafast laser-induced Coulomb explosion of clusters with high charge states

Abstract Iodine and argon ions, as highly charged as I 17+ and Ar 8+ , are found to be formed upon the irradiation of HI clusters and HIAr m clusters with an intense femtosecond laser beam. Double peaks are observed for each multicharged species, and identified to result from Coulomb explosion of clusters. Kinetic energy release values are calculated from the peak splittings, and also directly measured from cutoff potentials using a reflectron as an energy analyzer. The determined values are surprisingly large, on the order of several hundred electron volts.