ABSTRACT
Exceptional behavior of light-matter interaction in the extreme ultraviolet is demonstrated. The photoionization of different rare gases was compared at the free-electron laser in Hamburg, FLASH, by applying ion spectroscopy at the wavelength of 13.7 nm and irradiance levels of thousands of terawatts per square centimeter. In the case of xenon, the degree of nonlinear photoionization was found to be significantly higher than for neon, argon, and krypton. This target specific behavior cannot be explained by the standard theories developed for optical strong-field phenomena. We suspect that the collective giant 4d resonance of xenon is the driving force behind the effect that arises in this spectral range.
ABSTRACT
In the spectral range of the extreme ultraviolet at a wavelength of 13.3 nm, we have studied the photoionization of xenon at ultrahigh intensities. For our ion mass-to-charge spectroscopy experiments, irradiance levels from 10(12) to 10(16) W cm(-2) were achieved at the new free-electron laser in Hamburg FLASH by strong beam focusing with the aid of a spherical multilayer mirror. Ion charges up to Xe21+ were observed and investigated as a function of irradiance. Our surprising results are discussed in terms of a perturbative and nonperturbative description.