Recombination of Br−2 photodissociated within mass selected ionic clusters

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Photofragmentation studies of mass selected Br−2⋅(CO2)n, n≤24, cluster ions are presented. The heterogeneous cluster ions are synthesized in a supersonic expansion crossed with an electron beam. These ionic clusters are mass analyzed in a time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer prior to photodissociation of the Br−2 absorber in the cluster. Mass analysis of the ionic photofragments shows that in some cases the photodissociated Br−2 has recombined and in other cases a Br atom has escaped from the cluster. The branching ratio for recombination depends on both the size of the initial cluster ion and the photodissociation wavelength. The photofragmentation data are consistent with a recombination mechanism dominated by attractive forces in the smaller clusters and repulsive interactions in the larger clusters.