Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2004
By using an effective dielectric constant to modify the nanoplasma model, the interactions of large Ar clusters with high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses have been studied. It is shown that the resonance absorption mechanism plays a predominant role in the production of highly energetic argon ions, and the calculated mean kinetic energy of Ar ions is in good agreement with our previous experimental results. The scaling of mean kinetic energy and charge states of Ar ions against cluster size and laser intensity has also been analyzed. The results indicate the existence of optimum cluster sizes and optimum laser intensities where the best coupling efficiency of the laser energy can be obtained.