https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530070056
Charge transfer between alkali cluster ions and atoms in the 1 to 10 keV collisional energy range
Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Bâtiment 505, Campus d'Orsay, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Received:
13
April
2000
Revised:
29
June
2000
Published online: 15 October 2000
The cross-sections for collisional charge transfer
between singly
charged free clusters M
(M = Li, Na; n=1...50)
and atomic targets A
(cesium, potassium) have been measured
as a function of collisional relative velocity in
laboratory energy range 1-10 keV.
For each cluster size, the experimental values of the charge transfer
cross-section 
are fitted with an universal parametric curve with two
independent parameters 
and vm, the maximum cross-section and the
corresponding velocity.
For small size clusters (
), the 
characteristic parameters
show strong variations with the number of atoms in the cluster.
Abrupt dips observed for n=10 and n=22 are attributed to
electronic properties.
Charge transfer patterns observed for various collisional systems present similarities, which appear
more sensitive to cluster quantum size effects than to collision
energy defects.
In their whole, the and vm parameters show differences in
both their size evolution and their absolute values discussed in term
of projectile and target electronic structures.
PACS: 36.40.-c – Atomic and molecular clusters / 36.40.Jn – Reactivity of clusters / 36.40.Cg – Electronic and magnetic properties of clusters / 34.70.+e – Charge transfer
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2000
