Efficient trapping of silver cations in a rare gas matrix: Ag3+ in argon.
Mass selected cations of Ag clusters are deposited, together with Ar seeded with CO2 (or other electron scavengers such as O2, N2O, or CCl4), on a cold substrate, while being flooded with low energy electrons. Optical absorption measurements reveal an efficient trapping of Ag cluster cations in the Ar matrix, provided that CO2 or another electron scavenger is present to ensure charge neutrality of the matrix. The spectrum of Ag3+ thus obtained is in excellent agreement with previous predictions from quantum chemical calculations.
Lecoultre
Sylvain
S
Institut de Physique des Nanostructures, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Rydlo
Alexandre
A
Félix
Christian
C