Eur. Phys. J. D 4, 335-342 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050217

Photoionization of argon, krypton and xenon clusters in the inner valence shell region

¹ LURE, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France
² DIAM, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, BP 75, 75252 Paris, France
³ Department of Applied Physics, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Nakacho 2-24-16, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184, Japan
⁴ Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan

Corresponding author: ^a thissen@lure.u-psud.fr

Received: 10 February 1998
Revised: 17 July 1998
Accepted: 31 July 1998
Published online: 15 December 1998

Abstract

Photoionization of rare gas clusters in the innervalence shell region has been investigated using threshold photoelectron and photoion spectrometers and synchrotron radiation. Two classes of states are found to play an important role: (A) valence states, correlated to dissociation limits involving an ion with a hole in its innervalence ns shell, (B) Rydberg states correlated to dissociation limits involving an ion with a hole in its outervalence np shell plus an excited neutral atom. In dimers, class A states are "bright", that is, accessible by photoionization, and serve as an entrance step to form the class B "dark" states; this character fades as the size of the cluster increases. In the dimer, the "Mulliken" valence state is found to present a shallow potential well housing a few vibrational levels; it is predissociated by the class B Rydberg states. During the predissociation a remarkable energy transfer process is observed from the excited ion that loses its innershell electron to its neutral partner.