Multiphoton ionization of xenon at the LCLS free-electron laser

With the first X-ray free-electron laser (FEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), multiphoton ionization has been pushed to a new regime, where atoms and molecules are not just ionized by a series of valence ionizations but "from the inside out". At unprecedented high intensities and short pulse durations in the soft X-ray regime, a series of inner-shell photoionizations followed by cascades of Auger decays was observed to lead to highly charged final states in rare gases such as Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. Ion time-of-flight and fluorescence spectra were recorded for different FEL pulse energies and pulse lengths and compared to theoretical models to explain the underlying processes that lead to unexpectedly high charge states in Xe.