Abstract
Strong-field ionization of nanoscale clusters provides excellent opportunities to study the complex correlated electronic and nuclear dynamics of near-solid density plasmas. Yet, monitoring ultrafast, nanoscopic dynamics in real-time is challenging, which often complicates a direct comparison between theory and experiment. Here, near-infrared laser-induced plasma dynamics in diameter helium droplets are studied by femtosecond time-resolved x-ray coherent diffractive imaging. An anisotropic, wide surface region, defined as the range where the density lies between 10% and 90% of the core value, is established within , in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions. At longer timescales, however, the width of this region remains largely constant while the radius of the dense plasma core shrinks at average rates of along and perpendicular to the laser polarization. These dynamics are not captured by previous plasma expansion models. The observations are phenomenologically described within a numerical simulation; details of the underlying physics, however, remain to be explored.
- Received 15 September 2021
- Revised 30 April 2022
- Accepted 29 June 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.073201
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