Clusters in strong laser fields: Comparison between carbon, platinum, and lead clusters

Carbon and metal clusters are excited by strong femtosecond laser pulses wi th up to 10(16) W/cm(2), yielding ionized clusters and highly charged atomi c ions. For small carbon clusters and fullerenes the abundance of charged s pecies correlates with the laser power, while for metal clusters the ioniza tion efficiency is additionally strongly affected by the chosen laser pulse width which may result in an enhanced up-charging of the metal particle. I n the case of platinum atomic charge states up to z = 20 are detected at a pulse duration of about 600 fs. This observation is in accordance with a mo del based on a multi-plasmon excitation process.