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Title: Supersonic metal cluster beams. Technical progress report, March 16, 1983-March 15, 1984

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6792769

Recent developments in laser and molecular beam technology have now made it possible to produce supersonic beams of metal clusters of virtually any metal in the periodic table. Initially, studies have involved the investigation of the metal-metal bond in transition metal dimers, including Cr/sub 2/, Mo/sub 2/, V/sub 2/, and Ni/sub 2/ through resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy. These studies have demonstrated the importance of 3d (and 4d) electrons in the metal-metal bond in Cr/sub 2/, Mo/sub 2/, and V/sub 2/. A comparison of V/sub 2/ and Cr/sub 2/ illustrates the importance of the 3d contraction with increasing nuclear charge, and this is found to be of central concern in No/sub 2/, where no 3d contribution to the chemical bond is found. Finally, Cu/sub 3/ is investigated, providing the first gas-phase spectrum of a triatomic transition metal cluster. Electronically, Cu/sub 3/ is analogous to Na/sub 3/ and other alkali trimers, so it is not surprising that the observed spectrum is best explained as arising from a Jahn-Teller distorted /sup 2/E' state (in D/sub 3h/ symmetry), as has been calculated for Li/sub 3/. The observed transition in Cu/sub 3/ is assigned to be /sup 2/E'' reverse arrow /sup 2/E', with both upper and lower states undergoing Jahn-Teller distortions.

Research Organization:
Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AS05-78ER06035
OSTI ID:
6792769
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/06035-6; ON: DE84012976
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English