Coulomb explosion

A Coulombic explosion begins when an intense electric field (often from a laser) excites the valence electrons in a solid, ejecting them from the system and leaving behind positively charged ions.

[1] It may be shown that the Coulomb explosion occurs in the same parameter regime as the superradiant phase transition i.e. when the destabilizing interactions become overwhelming and dominate over the oscillatory phonon-solid binding motions.

[citation needed] A Coulomb explosion is a "cold" alternative to the dominant laser etching technique of thermal ablation, which depends on local heating, melting, and vaporization of molecules and atoms using less-intense beams.

Nevertheless, thermally ablated materials may seal pores important in catalysis or battery operation, and recrystallize or even burn the substrate, thus changing the physical and chemical properties at the etch site.

When multiple electrons are expelled, either by laser irradiation or bombardment using highly charged ions, the remaining, mutually repulsive, nuclei fly apart in a Coulomb explosion.