Fragmentation Dynamics of Atomic and Molecular Clusters

Abstract

We report our results from collisions between multiply charged (formula presented) and (formula presented) ions and atomic or molecular dimers. In such systems, the presence of a surrounding environment may give rise to specific energy relaxation mechanisms. For atomic dimers, we found that the low electron mobility along the dimer results in an asymmetry in the charge repartition among the two ionic fragments. Specific relaxation process such as radiative charge transfer has also been identified. For molecular nitrogen dimers, the role of the environment on molecular fragmentation has been investigated by comparing the fragmentation of multiply ionized monomers (formula presented) and dimers (formula presented).