Influence of a few-atomic silver molecules on the high-order harmonic generation in the laser-produced plasmas

The plasmas containing small molecules of silver produced during ablation of the bulk silver and silver nanoparticles (NPs) at the conditions suitable for efficient harmonic generation of the ultrashort pulses propagating through the laser-produced plasmas (LPPs) were studied. The time-of-flight mass-spectroscopy studies of plasmas confirmed the presence of these species in the plasmas. We suggest that the harmonics generated during the ablation of nanoparticle and bulk targets could be enhanced due to the appearance of these small species (Ag2, Ag3) at the moment of propagation of the ultrashort laser pulses through such plasmas.