Charge-Induced Fragmentation of Sodium Clusters


Abstract in English

The fission of highly charged sodium clusters with fissilities X>1 is studied by {em ab initio} molecular dynamics. Na_{24}^{4+} is found to undergo predominantly sequential Na_{3}^{+} emission on a time scale of 1 ps, while Na_{24}^{Q+} (5 leq Q leq 8) undergoes multifragmentation on a time scale geq 0.1 ps, with Na^{+} increasingly the dominant fragment as Q increases. All singly-charged fragments Na_{n}^{+} up to size n=6 are observed. The observed fragment spectrum is, within statistical error, independent of the temperature T of the parent cluster for T leq 1500 K. These findings are consistent with and explain recent trends observed experimentally.

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