Liquid nanodroplet formation through phase explosion mechanism in laser-irradiated metal targets.

Some quantitative aspects of laser-irradiated pure metals, while approaching phase explosion, are still not completely understood. Here, we develop a model that describes the main quantities regulating the liquid-vapor explosive phase transition and the expulsion of liquid nanodroplets that, by solidifying, give rise to nanoparticle formation. The model combines both a thermodynamics description of the explosive phase change and a Monte Carlo simulation of the randomly generated critical vapor bubbles. The calculation is performed on a set of seven metals (Al, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, and Au) which are frequently used in pulsed laser ablation experiments. Our final predictions about the size distribution of the liquid nanodroplets and the number ratio of liquid/vapor ejected atoms are compared, whenever possible, with available molecular dynamics simulations and experimental data.