Single-Shot Imaging Of Surface Molecular Ionization In Nanosystems

Using single-shot velocity map imaging technique, explosion imaging of different ion species ejected from 50 nm SiO2 nanoparticles are obtained excitedly by strong near-infrared and ultraviolet femtosecond laser fields. Characteristic momentum distributions showing forward emission of the ions at lowexcitation intensities and shockwave behaviors at high intensities are observed. When the excitation intensity is close to the dissociative ionization threshold of the surface molecules, the resulting ion products can be used to image the instant near-field distributions. The underlying dynamics of shock formation are simulated by using a Coulomb explosion model. Our results allow one to distinguish the ultrafast strong-field response of various molecular species in nano-systems and will open a new way for further exploration of the underlying dynamics of laser-and-nanoparticle interactions.