Eur. Phys. J. D 11, 247-256 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530070090

Effects of solvation on dissociative electron attachment to methyl iodide clusters ^*

¹ Fachbereich Physik, Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0111, USA

Received: 29 November 1999
Revised: 14 January 2000
Published online: 15 August 2000

Abstract

Using laser photoelectron attachment to methyl iodide clusters in a differentially-pumped seeded supersonic helium beam and mass spectrometric ion detection, we have measured the rate coefficients for formation of (q = 0–2) ions over the electron energy range 0–100 meV with an effective energy width of about 2.5 meV. Whereas a prominent vibrational Feshbach resonance just below the onset for the C–I stretch vibration () is observed for dissociative attachment to monomers (yielding ions), only weak and broad structure, shifted to lower energies, is detected for formation of ions and essentially no structure is left in the attachment spectrum for . These observations are interpreted by model R-matrix calculations which successfully describe the DA cross-section for the monomer and qualitatively recover the trend observed for cluster ion formation. For the clusters, the effects of increased electron-target long-range interaction and of solvation as well as coupling to soft vibrational modes lead to strong broadening and shifting of the vibrational Feshbach resonance and, ultimately, to its disappearance.