# XUV fluorescence as a probe of interatomic coulombic decay of resonantly excited He nanodroplets

**Authors:** Keshav Sishodia, Ltaief Ben Ltaief, Niklas Scheel, István B. Földes, Andreas Hult Roos, Martin Albrecht, Matyáš Staněk, Lucie Jurkovičová, Ondrej Hort, Jaroslav Nejdl, Ernesto García-Alfonso, Nadine Halberstadt, Jakob Andreasson, Eva Klimešová, Maria Krikunova, Sivarama Krishnan, Andreas Heidenreich, Marcel Mudrich

PMC · DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-34677-x · Scientific Reports · 2026-01-09

## TL;DR

This paper presents a new method using XUV fluorescence to study the relaxation dynamics of resonantly excited helium nanodroplets over a wide range of timescales.

## Contribution

The novel approach uses XUV fluorescence and nanoplasma ignition to probe interatomic coulombic decay in He nanodroplets.

## Key findings

- XUV fluorescence can detect ICD dynamics in He nanodroplets from femtoseconds to nanoseconds.
- Nanoplasma ignition via tunnel ionization serves as a sensitive probe of relaxation dynamics.
- ICD between roaming He* atoms on the droplet surface is supported by quantum and classical models.

## Abstract

Superfluid He nanodroplets resonantly excited by extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses can relax via interatomic coulombic decay (ICD), generally considered an ultrafast process. Here, we introduce a novel approach to probe the dynamics of ICD in He nanodroplets over timescales ranging from femtoseconds to nanoseconds. Our method relies on detecting XUV fluorescence emitted from the nanodroplets as they are driven into a nanoplasma by subsequent intense infrared pulses. Nanoplasma ignition is facilitated by tunnel ionization of XUV-excited He\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
				\usepackage{amsmath}
				\usepackage{wasysym} 
				\usepackage{amsfonts} 
				\usepackage{amssymb} 
				\usepackage{amsbsy}
				\usepackage{mathrsfs}
				\usepackage{upgreek}
				\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}
				\begin{document}$$^*$$\end{document} atoms attached to the droplets; it thus serves as a sensitive probe of their relaxation dynamics. The observed nanosecond-scale decay is attributed to ICD between pairs of He\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
				\usepackage{amsmath}
				\usepackage{wasysym} 
				\usepackage{amsfonts} 
				\usepackage{amssymb} 
				\usepackage{amsbsy}
				\usepackage{mathrsfs}
				\usepackage{upgreek}
				\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}
				\begin{document}$$^*$$\end{document} atoms undergoing roaming motion on the droplet surface, as supported by quantum-mechanical and classical model calculations.

## Full-text entities

- **Chemicals:** He[Formula (-), He (MESH:D006371)

## Full text

_Full body text omitted from this summary view._ Fetch the complete paper as Markdown: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12796158/full.md

## Figures

8 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12796158/full.md

## References

2 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12796158/full.md

---
Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12796158