Abstract:
The hypothesis is put forward on the basis of experimental data that strong inhomogeneous heating of the skin layer of conducting materials by a femtosecond pulse gives rise to a double electrical layer that is formed of a «surface» layer of positive ions and a thin (about $1$ nm) «subsurface» layer of a superdense $(10^{23}{-}10^{25}\,$cm$^{-3}$) degenerate electron gas. The double layer breaks within one picosecond through the Coulomb explosion.
Citation:
S. I. Kudryashov, V. I. Emel'yanov, “Electron gas compression and Coulomb explosion in the surface layer of a conductor heated by femtosecond laser pulse”, Pis'ma v Zh. Èksper. Teoret. Fiz., 73:12 (2001), 751–755; JETP Letters, 73:12 (2001), 666–670
S. A. Uryupin, A. A. Frolov, JETP Letters, 103:8 (2016), 499–503
A. I. Gavrilov, D. V. Golovin, A. M. Emelyanenko, D. A. Zayarny, A. A. Ionin, S. I. Kudryashov, S. V. Makarov, P. N. Saltuganov, L. B. Boinovich, Bull. Russ. Acad. Sci. Phys., 80:4 (2016), 358