COLLECTIVE EFFECTS IN 2+1 REMPI OF ATOMIC DEUTERIUM AT 243 nm

B. Shortt*, F. Giammanco=86, P. J. M. van der Burgt*, and R. W. O'Neill*

* Department of Experimental Physics, National University of Ireland,
Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
=86 Instituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia e Dipartimento di Fisica,
Universit=E0 di Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy

We study collective effects in the transient plasma formed by the
multiphoton ionization of deuterium atoms with a pulsed laser beam.
Measurements of the time-dependent yields of ions and of metastable atoms
are compared with fluid dynamics calculations.