Cluster dynamics transcending chemical dynamics toward nuclear fusion

Heidenreich et al. 10.1073/pnas.0508622103.

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Fig. 7. Snapshots of the time-resolved structures in the Coulomb explosion (CE) of the (DI)₂₁₇₁ cluster induced by a Gaussian laser field (I_M = 10¹⁸ W•cm^–2; t = 25 fs). The lowest part of the image portrays the time axis t – t_s and the electric field of the laser. The instants of the snapshots are marked by a–f on the time axis. The deuterons are represented by green, and the electrons are shown as light gray spheres. The iodine atoms are color-coded according to their charge: blue corresponds to the initial charge +1 and deep red to the maximum charge +25, which can be obtained at this laser intensity. (a) The initial nanoplasma at t – t_s = 0, with the cluster radius R₀ = 33.2 Å. (b) At t – t_s = 16.5 fs, where the onset of the deuteron shell expansion becomes apparent. The radius of the deuteron shell, defined by the outermost D atoms, is 49.0 Å. The average charge per iodine atom is 16.0. (c) At 23.5 fs the average charge per iodine atom reaches 24.3, and the radius of the deuteron shell is 80.4 Å. (d) At 31.0 fs the outer ionization is complete. The cluster energy originates almost completely from CE (ref. 1). The radius of the deuteron shell grows to 135 Å, and the expansion of the iodine shell sets in. At even longer times, 40.1 (e) and 45.2 (f) fs, the deuteron shell radius is 226 and 288 Å, respectively.