Abstract
We investigate the heating of the quasifree electrons in large rare-gas clusters ( exceeding atoms) by short laser pulses at moderate intensities (). We identify elastic large-angle backscattering of electrons at ionic cores in the presence of a laser field as an efficient heating mechanism. Its efficiency as well as the effect of collective electron motion, electron-impact ionization, and cluster charging are studied employing a mean-field classical transport simulation. Results for the absolute x-ray yields are in surprisingly good quantitative agreement with recent experimental results.
- Received 28 June 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.013203
©2006 American Physical Society