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Mass spectra of doped and undoped helium droplets are presented. The high resolution of the time-of-flight spectrometer ( m/ Δm ≅ 5000) makes it possible to fully resolve small helium cluster ions from impurities and to unambiguously identify abundance anomalies in the size distribution of He. The yield of He shows the well-known enhancement relative to other small cluster ions when the expansion changes from sub- to supercritical, provided the electron energy exceeds a value of 40 ± 1 eV, the threshold for formation of electronically excited ions. Upon doping with krypton, pure Kr cluster ions containing up to 41 Kr atoms are observed. The spectra exhibit abundance anomalies at 13, 16, 19, 22 & 23, 26 and 29, in agreement with spectra obtained by ionization of bare krypton clusters that are formed in neat supersonic beams. Mixed clusters HeKr indicate closure of a solvation shell at m = 12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helium nanodroplets, formed in a supersonic expansion, are doped with C60 in a pickup cell. In some experiments, they are co-doped with water. Electrons are attached to the doped droplets; the yield of anions is recorded as a function of electron energy. The C60 - yield extends to much higher energies than in experiments involving isolated, hot fullerenes; we attribute the difference to the low temperature of the neutral precursors and the efficient cooling of the nascent anions by the helium droplet, which quench thermally activated autodetachment. The yields of (C60)2 -O60D2O- anions reveal another important factor, namely depletion of the anion signal by dissociation which is energetically more facile than autodetachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neon dimer ions undergo spontaneous dissociation (metastable decay) several microseconds after formation by electron impact ionization of neon clusters. In this contribution we compare the kinetic energy release distribution (KERD) of the previously reported isotopomer 20Ne2 + with that of 22Ne2 +. The heavy isotopomer shows the same two components in the KERD as the lighter ones. However, the high-energy component that is due to electronic pre-dissociation is reduced in intensity. The decrease is attributed to a reduced predissociation rate from the II(1/2u) state into I(3/2u). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent addition of (i) a third sector field to our two sector field mass spectrometer (resulting in a BE1E2 field configuration) and of (ii) a high performance electron gun enables us now to study in detail the time dependence of the kinetic energy release distribution (KERD) over a relatively wide range of cluster ion lifetimes. Using this newly constructed device we have studied here for the first time KERDs and deduced binding energies BEs (using finite heat bath theory) of large rare gas cluster ions (an upper size limit in earlier studies arose from the fact that different naturally occurring isotopes will contribute to a chosen metastable peak when the size exceeds a certain value) and in addition of fullerene ions smaller and larger than C60+ (here again contaminating coincidences did not allow such studies earlier). Moreover, high precision KERD measurements for the decay of rare gas dimer ions in conjunction with model calculations (using recently calculated potential energy curves for the rare gas dimer ions) also enable us to obtain information on the dynamics and the mechanisms of the underlying spontaneous decay reactions Rg2+∗ → Rg+ + Rg. In addition, we are also reporting here a novel method (unified breakdown graph method) to determine cluster ion binding energies using a recently constructed tandem mass spectrometer BESTOF allowing us to measure fragmentation patterns arising from the unimolecular decay of molecular cluster ions induced by surface collisions. The fragmentation and reaction patterns of protonated ethanol cluster ions investigated here clearly demonstrate in contrast to some of the earlier cluster ion studies that unimolecular dissociation kinetics determines the formation of product ions in the surface-induced decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have carried out measurements on metastable fragmentation of mass selected argon cluster ions which are produced by electron impact ionization of a neutral argon cluster beam. From the shape of the fragment ion peaks (MIKE scan technique) one can deduce information about the distribution of kinetic energy that is released in the decay reaction. In this study, for Ar5 + to Ar15 +, it is Gaussian and thus we can calculate from the peak width the mean kinetic energy release 〈KER〉 of the corresponding decay reactions. Using finite heat bath theory we calculate from these data the binding energies of the decaying cluster ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Na clusters in the size range of 50–400 atoms are led to evaporate in a heat bath with controlled temperature. For specific cluster sizes just above closed shells, decay rates are measured as a function of temperature. They agree with an Arrhenius law and allow absolute separation energies to be extracted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neon dimer ions undergo spontaneous dissociation (metastable decay) several microseconds after formation by electron impact ionization of neon clusters. In this contribution we compare the kinetic energy release distribution (KERD) of the previously reported isotopomer 20Ne2 + with that of 22Ne2 +. The heavy isotopomer shows the same two components in the KERD as the lighter ones. However, the high-energy component that is due to electronic pre-dissociation is reduced in intensity. The decrease is attributed to a reduced predissociation rate from the II(1/2u) state into I(3/2u). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]