Abstract

The interaction of a many-electron atom with a strong laser field (>10¹² W.cm^-2) induces the removal of several electrons (up to Xe⁸⁺ at 193 nm). We briefly review the main experimental results obtained so far¹-³ and we analyze in some details the result obtained on Xenon using a 50 ps Nd-YAG laser at 532 nm¹. We show that the mechanism responsible for the formation of highly charged ions (e.g.Xe⁵⁺) is probably a sequence of 1-electron multiphoton ionizations taking place during the rise of the laser pulse. It is essential to take into account both the temporal and spatial distributions of the laser pulse to understand the experimental data.

© 1986 Optical Society of America