Interaction of ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses with atomic clusters

A fully relativistic particle-in-cell code is used to simulate atomic clust er explosions following the interaction with ultrashort high-intensity lase r pulses, investigating the dynamics of a 1 mum hydrogen cluster explosion and providing information about the time-resolved position, momentum, and e nergy of electrons and ions, for different laser intensities. The results i ndicate that the mechanism responsible for cluster expansion is Coulombic e xplosion producing MeV ions and electrons. (C) 2001 American Institute of P hysics.