Abstract
The abundance spectrum of anions formed by low-energy electron attachment to free nanoclusters is measured to be strongly and nontrivially restructured with respect to the neutral precursor beam. This restructuring is explained in quantitative detail by a general framework of evaporative attachment: an electron is captured by the long-range polarization potential, its energy is transferred into thermal vibrations, and dissipated by evaporative cooling. The data also affirm a formulated relation between the binding energies of cationic, neutral, and anionic clusters, and an adjustment to the prior values of dimer evaporation energies.
- Received 23 January 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.063202
©2008 American Physical Society