Stepwise explosion of atomic clusters induced by a strong laser field

Summary form only given. Recent experiments on clusters irradiated by strong laser pulses have revealed several phenomena not previously encountered in experiments on atoms and small molecules: the generation of highly charged atomic ions; emission of intense X rays by hollow atoms and by hot plasma; generation of coherent high harmonic radiation; and the generation of electrons and ions with MeV kinetic energies. It is clear that the strong-field physics of clusters differs qualitatively from that of simple atomic and molecular systems due to collective effects. In this paper, we describe one such effect: the Coulomb explosion of a cluster boosted by hot-electron heating of cluster ions.