https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530170062
Decay reactions of rare gas cluster ions: Kinetic energy release distributions and binding energies
1
Institut für Ionenphysik, Leopold Franzens Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
2
Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824, USA
3
Faculty of Physics, P.O. Box 638, Yu-11001 Beograd, Yugoslavia
4
Kaytedra fyziky plazmy, Univerzita, Mlynska dolina F2, SK-84248 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Corresponding author: a olof.echt@unh.edu
Received:
20
November
2000
Published online: 15 September 2001
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 
to 
, 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.
PACS: 36.40.Qv – Stability and fragmentation of clusters / 33.15.Fm – Bond strengths, dissociation energies / 34.30.+h – Intramolecular energy transfer; intramolecular dynamics; dynamics of van der Waals molecules
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2001
