Electron attachment to nitric oxide clusters and electron impact ionization of carbon monoxide clusters

Abstract.

The formation of both positively and negatively charged ions after interaction of electrons with different cluster beams is investigated, by the use of highly monochomatized electron beams. In the case of the electron attachment to neutral NO clusters, the formation of the monomer ion NO^- could be observed for the first time. The only explanation for the creation of such an ion is an intracluster reaction. In the case of carbon monoxide clusters, the appearance energies were determined with high accuracy. From these data, we derived the binding energy of the cluster dimer. Our results are in good agreement with photoionization studies.