Experimental determination of nucleation scaling law for small charged particles.
We investigated the nucleation process at the molecular level. Controlled sticking of individual atoms onto mass selected clusters over a wide mass range has been carried out for the first time. We measured the absolute unimolecular nucleation cross sections of cationic sodium clusters Na{n}{+} in the range n=25-200 at several collision energies. The widely used hard sphere approximation clearly fails for small sizes: not only should vapor-to-liquid nucleation theories be modified, but also, through the microreversibility principle, cluster decay rate statistical models.
Chirot
Fabien
F
Laboratoire Collisions, Agrégats, Réactivité (UMR 5589, CNRS, and Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse 3), 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex 09, France.
Labastie
Pierre
P
Zamith
Sébastien
S
L'Hermite
Jean-Marc
JM