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    Review on VUV to MIR absorption spectroscopy of atmospheric pressure plasma jets
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Reuter, Stephan; Sousa, Joao Santos; Stancu, Gabi Daniel; Hubertus van Helden, Jean-Pierre
    Absorption spectroscopy (AS) represents a reliable method for the characterization of cold atmospheric pressure plasma jets. The method's simplicity stands out in comparison to competing diagnostic techniques. AS is an in situ, non-invasive technique giving absolute densities, free of calibration procedures, which other diagnostics, such as laser-induced fluorescence or optical emission spectroscopy, have to rely on. Ground state densities can be determined without the knowledge of the influence of collisional quenching. Therefore, absolute densities determined by absorption spectroscopy can be taken as calibration for other methods. In this paper, fundamentals of absorption spectroscopy are presented as an entrance to the topic. In the second part of the manuscript, a review of AS performed on cold atmospheric pressure plasma jets, as they are used e.g. in the field of plasma medicine, is presented. The focus is set on special techniques overcoming not only the drawback of spectrally overlapping absorbing species, but also the line-of-sight densities that AS usually provides or the necessity of sufficiently long absorption lengths. Where references are not available for measurements on cold atmospheric pressure plasma jets, other plasma sources including low-pressure plasmas are taken as an example to give suggestions for possible approaches. The final part is a table summarizing examples of absorption spectroscopic measurements on cold atmospheric pressure plasma jets. With this, the paper provides a 'best practice' guideline and gives a compendium of works by groups performing absorption spectroscopy on cold atmospheric pressure plasma jets.
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    Stability and excitation dynamics of an argon micro-scaled atmospheric pressure plasma jet
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Dünnbier, M.; Becker, M.M.; Iseni, S.; Bansemer, R.; Loffhagen, D.; Reuter, S.; Weltmann, K.-D.
    A megahertz-driven plasma jet at atmospheric pressure—the so-called micro-scaled atmospheric pressure plasma jet (μAPPJ)—operating in pure argon has been investigated experimentally and by numerical modelling. To ignite the discharge in argon within the jet geometry, a self-made plasma tuning unit was designed, which additionally enables measurements of the dissipated power in the plasma itself. Discharges in the α-mode up to their transition to the γ-mode were studied experimentally for varying frequencies. It was found that the voltage at the α–γ transition behaves inversely proportional to the applied frequency f and that the corresponding power scales with an f  3/2law. Both these findings agree well with the results of time-dependent, spatially one-dimensional fluid modelling of the discharge behaviour, where the f  3/2 scaling of the α–γ transition power is additionally verified by the established concept of a critical plasma density for sheath breakdown. Furthermore, phase resolved spectroscopy of the optical emission at 750.39 nm as well as at 810.37 nm and 811.53 nm was applied to analyse the excitation dynamics of the discharge at 27 MHz for different applied powers. The increase of the power leads to an additional maximum in the excitation structure of the 750.39 nm line emission at the α–γ transition point, whereas the emission structure around 811 nm does not change qualitatively. According to the fluid modelling results, this differing behaviour originates from the different population mechanisms of the corresponding energy levels of argon.
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    Intracluster Coulombic decay following intense NIR ionization of clusters
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Schütte, Bernd; Arbeiter, Mathias; Fennel, Thomas; Jabbari, Ghazal; Gokhberg, Kirill; Kuleff, Alexander I.; Vrakking, Marc J. J.; Rouzée, Arnaud
    We report on the observation of a novel intracluster Coulombic decay process following Rydberg atom formation in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared fields. A new decay channel emerges, in which a Rydberg atom relaxes to the ground state by transferring its excess energy to a weakly bound electron in the environment that is emitted from the cluster. We find evidence for this process in the electron spectra, where a peak close to the corresponding atomic ionization potential is observed. For Ar clusters, a decay time of 87 ps is measured, which is significantly longer than in previous time-resolved studies of interatomic Coulombic decay.
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    Photoluminescence investigation of strictly ordered Ge dots grown on pit-patterned Si substrates
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Brehm, Moritz; Grydlik, Martyna; Tayagaki, Takeshi; Langer, Gregor; Schäffler, Friedrich; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    We investigate the optical properties of ordered Ge quantum dots (QDs) by means of micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). These were grown on pit-patterned Si(001) substrates with a wide range of pit-periods and thus inter QD-distances (425–3400 nm). By exploiting almost arbitrary inter-QD distances achievable in this way we are able to choose the number of QDs that contribute to the PL emission in a range between 70 and less than three QDs. This well-defined system allows us to clarify, by PL-investigation, several points which are important for the understanding of the formation and optical properties of ordered QDs. We directly trace and quantify the amount of Ge transferred from the surrounding wetting layer (WL) to the QDs in the pits. Moreover, by exploiting different pit-shapes, we reveal the role of strain-induced activation energy barriers that have to be overcome for charge carriers generated outside the dots. These need to diffuse between the energy minimum of the WL in and between the pits, and the one in the QDs. In addition, we demonstrate that the WL in the pits is already severely intermixed with Si before upright QDs nucleate, which further enhances intermixing of ordered QDs as compared to QDs grown on planar substrates. Furthermore, we quantitatively determine the amount of Ge transferred by surface diffusion through the border region between planar and patterned substrate. This is important for the growth of ordered islands on patterned fields of finite size. We highlight that the Ge WL-facets in the pits act as PL emission centres, similar to upright QDs.
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    Correlated electronic decay following intense near-infrared ionization of clusters
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Schütte, Bernd; Arbeiter, Mathias; Fennel, Thomas; Jabbari, Ghazal; Kuleff, Alexander I.; Vrakking, Marc J. J.; Rouzée, Arnaud
    We report on a novel correlated electronic decay process following extensive Rydberg atom formation in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared fields. A peak close to the atomic ionization potential is found in the electron kinetic energy spectrum. This new contribution is attributed to an energy transfer between two electrons, where one electron decays from a Rydberg state to the ground state and transfers its excess energy to a weakly bound cluster electron in the environment that can escape from the cluster. The process is a result of nanoplasma formation and is therefore expected to be important, whenever intense laser pulses interact with nanometer-sized particles.
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    Interatomic Coulombic Decay Processes after Multiple Valence Excitations in Ne Clusters
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Iablonskyi, D.; Nagaya, K.; Fukuzawa, H.; Motomura, K.; Kumagai, Y.; Mondal, S.; Tachibana, T.; Takanashi, T.; Nishiyama, T.; Matsunami, K.; Johnsson, P.; Piseri, P.; Sansone, G.; Dubrouil, A.; Reduzzi, M.; Carpeggiani, P.; Vozzi, C.; Devetta, M.; Negro, M.; Faccialà, D.; Calegari, F.; Trabattoni, A.; Castrovilli, M.; Ovcharenko, Y.; Möller, T.; Mudrich, M.; Stienkemeier, F.; Coreno, M.; Alagia, M.; Schütte, B.; Berrah, N.; Callegari, C.; Plekan, O.; Finetti, P.; Spezzani, C.; Ferrari, E.; Allaria, E.; Penco, G.; Serpico, C.; De Ninno, G.; Diviacco, B.; Di Mitri, S.; Giannessi, L.; Prince, K..; Yao, M.; Ueda, K.
    We present a comprehensive analysis of autoionization processes in Ne clusters (~5000 atoms) after multiple valence excitations by free electron laser radiation. The evolution from 2-body interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) to 3-body ICD is demonstrated when changing from surface to bulk Frenkel exciton excitation. Super Coster-Kronig type 2-body ICD is observed at Wannier exciton which quenches the main ICD channel.
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    Time-resolved investigation of transient charges in laser-produced nanoplasmas
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Schütte, Bernd; Vrakking, Marc J. J.; Rouzée, Arnaud
    We report on the observation of a transient C4+ ion charge state in nanoplasmas produced by the interaction of intense near-infrared (NIR) laser pulses with CH4 clusters. The underlying dynamics are studied by pump-probe spectroscopy, which reveals that the ion charge states are lowered by electron-ion recombination. Furthermore, we present direct evidence that autoionization of multiply-excited ions plays an important role in expanding nanoplasmas, in contrast to models that neglect quantum phenomena.
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    Towards a life-time-limited 8-octave-infrared photoconductive germanium detector
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Pavlov, S.G.; Deßmann, N.; Pohl, A.; Abrosimov, N.V.; Mittendorff, M.; Winnerl, S.; Zhukavin, R.K; Tsyplenkov, V.V.; Shengurov, D.V.; Shastin, V.N.; Hübers, H.-W.
    Ultrafast, ultra-broad-band photoconductive detector based on heavily doped and highly compensated germanium has been demonstrated. Such a material demonstrates optical sensitivity in the more than 8 octaves, in the infrared, from about 2 mm to about 8 μm. The spectral sensitivity peaks up between 2 THz and 2.5 THz and is slowly reduced towards lower and higher frequencies. The life times of free electrons/holes measured by a pump-probe technique approach a few tenths of picoseconds and remain almost independent on the optical input intensity and on the temperature of a detector in the operation range. During operation, a detector is cooled down to liquid helium temperature but has been approved to detect, with a reduced sensitivity, up to liquid nitrogen temperature. The response time is shorter than 200 ps that is significantly faster than previously reported times.
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    NO2molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions for a range of geometries using the R-matrix method
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Brambila, Danilo S.; Harvey, Alex G.; Mašín, Zdeněk; Smirnova, Olga
    We present R-matrix calculations of photoionization from NO2, resolved in energy, angle, and both neutral and ionic state, for a range of molecular geometries, including in the vicinity of the 2A1/2B2 conical intersection.
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    Molecular above-threshold ionization spectra as an evidence of the three-point interference of electron wave packets
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Hasović, Elvedin; Milošević, Dejan B.; Gazibegović-Busuladži, Azra; Čerkić, Aner; Busuladžić, Mustafa
    We consider high-order above-threshold ionization (HATI) of polyatomic molecules ionized by a strong linearly polarized laser field. Improved molecular strong-field approximation by which the HATI process on polyatomic molecular species can be described is developed. Using this theory we calculate photoelectron angular-energy spectra for different triatomic molecules. Special attention is devoted to the minima that are observed in the calculated high-energy electron spectra of the ozone and carbon dioxide molecules. A key difference between these minima and minima that are observed in the corresponding spectra of diatomic molecules are presented.