No Arabic abstract
A method is presented to monitor the internal energy distribution of cluster anions via delayed electron detachment by pulsed photoexcitation and demonstrated on Co$_4{}^-$ in an electrostatic ion beam trap. In cryogenic operation, we calibrate the detachment delay to internal energy. By laser frequency scans, at room temperature, we reconstruct the time-dependent internal energy distribution of the clusters. The mean energies of ensembles from a cold and a hot ion source both approach thermal equilibrium. Our data yield a radiative emission law and the absorptivity of the cluster for thermal radiation.
Electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom in atom-cluster collisions are treated simultaneously and self-consistently by combining time-dependent density functional theory with classical molecular dynamics. The gradual change of the excitation mechanisms (electronic and vibrational) as well as the related relaxation phenomena (phase transitions and fragmentation) are studied in a common framework as a function of the impact energy (eV...MeV). Cluster transparency characterized by practically undisturbed atom-cluster penetration is predicted to be an important reaction mechanism within a particular window of impact energies.
Laser-driven rescattering of electrons is the basis of many strong-field phenomena in atoms and molecules. Here, we will show how this mechanism operates in extended atomic systems, giving rise to effective energy absorption. Rescattering from extended systems can also lead to energy loss, which in its extreme form results in non-linear photo-association. Intense-laser interaction with atomic clusters is discussed as an example. We explain fast electron emission, seen in experimental and numerically obtained spectra, by rescattering of electrons at the highly charged cluster.
Charge transfer in collisions of Na_n^+ cluster ions with Cs atoms is investigated theoretically in the microscopic framework of non-adiabatic quantum molecular dynamics. The competing reaction channels and related processes affecting the charge transfer (electronic excitations, fragmentation, temperature) are described. Absolute charge transfer cross sections for Na_n^+(2.7 keV) + Cs --> Na_n + Cs^+ have been calculated in the size range 4 <= n <= 11 reproducing the size dependence of the experimental cross sections. The energy dependence of the cross section is predicted for n=4,7,9. An exotic charge transfer channel producing Cs^- is found to have a finite probability.
Inter-Coulombic decay (ICD) resonances in the photoionization of Cl@C60 endofullerene molecule are calculated using a perturbative density functional theory (DFT) method. This is the first ICD study of an open shell atom in a fullerene cage. Three classes of resonances are probed: (i) Cl inner vacancies decaying through C60 outer continua, (ii) C60 inner vacancies decaying through Cl outer continua, and (iii) inner vacancies of either system decaying through the continua of Cl-C60 hybrid levels, the hybrid Auger-ICD resonances. Comparisons with Ar@C60 results reveal that the properties of hybrid Auger-ICD resonances are affected by the extent of level hybridization.
We study the photoionization properties of the C_60 versus C_240 molecule in a spherical jellium frame of density functional method. Two different approximations to the exchange-correlation (xc) functional are used: (i) The Gunnerson-Lundqvist parametrization [Phys. Rev. B 13, 4274 (1976)] with an explicit correction for the electron self-interaction (SIC) and (ii) a gradient-dependent augmentation of (i) by using the van Leeuwen and Baerends model potential [Phys. Rev. A 49, 2421 (1994)], in lieu of SIC, to implicitly restore electrons asymptotic properties. Ground state results from the two schemes for both molecules show differences in the shapes of mean-field potentials and bound-level properties. The choice of a xc scheme also significantly alters the dipole single-photoionization cross sections obtained by an abinitio method that incorporates linear-response dynamical correlations. Differences in the structures and ionization responses between C_60 and C_240 uncover the effect of molecular size on the underlying physics. Analysis indicates that the collective plasmon resonances with the gradient-based xc-option produce results noticeably closer to the experimental data available for C_60.