Coulomb explosion patterns of past C-60 clusters in solids

The molecular dynamics method is used to simulate Coulomb explosion of fast C-60 ion clusters in an Al target, taking into account dynamical screening of interionic interactions by the electron gas of the target. It is found that the wake forces in the medium are strong enough, depending on cluster speed, to stabilize the whole cluster against Coulomb explosion, or to comp ress the trailing part of the cluster, for prolonged times of penetration t hrough the target. This is encouraging news for such cluster-ion beams appl ications where massive energy depositions in small volumes of targets are d esired.