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A. Ø. Lægdsmand

Publications and source records attributed to A. Ø. Lægdsmand.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of Ar and Kr clusters formed in He nanodroplets

We report the first soft x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements of Ar and Kr clusters formed inside superfluid helium nanodroplets (HNDs) through consecutive pickup of dopant atoms. Ar and Kr atoms and clusters are selectively inner-shell ionized (Ar 2p, Kr 3d) using monochromatic soft x-ray synchrotron radiation. In the regime of strong doping, the electron spectra exhibit features characteristic of free Ar and Kr atoms as well as their clusters. The Kr cluster spectra agree well with literature data for bare Kr clusters. Backed by detailed simulations of the pickup process, this agreement indicates that the observed spectra originate from nearly bare Ar and Kr clusters, from which most or all He has evaporated in the course of cluster aggregation. These results establish HNDs as a platform for XPS of various types of molecular complexes and nanostructures.

physics.atm-clus↗

Long-lasting XUV activation of helium nanodroplets for avalanche ionization

We study the dynamics of avalanche ionization of pure helium nanodroplets activated by a weak extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulse and driven by an intense near-infrared (NIR) pulse. In addition to a transient enhancement of ignition of a nanoplasma at short delay times $\sim200$~fs, long-term activation of the nanodroplets lasting up to a few nanoseconds is observed. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the short-term activation is caused by the injection of seed electrons into the droplets by XUV photoemission. Long-term activation appears due to electrons remaining loosely bound to photoions which form stable `snowball' structures in the droplets. Thus, we show that XUV irradiation can induce long-lasting changes of the strong-field optical properties of nanoparticles, potentially opening new routes to controlling avalanche-ionization phenomena in nanostructures and condensed-phase systems.

physics.atm-clus↗