Metallic water: Transient state under ultrafast electronic excitation

0570876 - FZÚ 2024 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Medvedev, Nikita - Voronkov, R. - Volkov, A.E.
Metallic water: Transient state under ultrafast electronic excitation.
Journal of Chemical Physics. Roč. 158, č. 7 (2023), č. článku 074501. ISSN 0021-9606. E-ISSN 1089-7690
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2018114
Research Infrastructure: e-INFRA CZ - 90140
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : response of bulk water to ultrafast excitation of its electrons * irradiation by femtosecond lasers * metallic water
OECD category: Fluids and plasma physics (including surface physics)
Impact factor: 4.4, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0139802

The modern means of controlled irradiation by femtosecond lasers or swift heavy ion beams can transiently produce such energy densities in samples that reach collective electronic excitation levels of the warm dense matter state, where the potential energy of interaction of the particles is comparable to their kinetic energies (temperatures of a few eV). We employ density functional theory and tight binding molecular dynamics formalisms to study the response of bulk water to ultrafast excitation of its electrons. After a certain threshold electronic temperature, the water becomes electronically conducting via the collapse of its bandgap. At high doses, it is accompanied by nonthermal acceleration of ions to a temperature of a few thousand Kelvins within sub-100 fs timescales. We identify the interplay of this nonthermal mechanism with the electron–ion coupling, enhancing the electron-to-ions energy transfer.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0342205