Vibrational Predissociation Spectroscopy of Hydrogen Cluster Ions

Abstract

Although molecular ion spectroscopy has progressed rapidly[1], there has been very little spectroscopy done of weakly bound ionic clusters[2,3]. These clusters play an important role in atmospheric chemistry and have been studied extensively in thereto-chemical and kinetic experiments over the past decade[4]. Much of our understanding of the dynamics and structure of cluster ions to date has relied on the results of ab initio quantum calculations. Stimulated by the theoretical work, we have begun experiments on the infrared spectroscopy of cluster ions, and have recently made the first spectroscopic observation of the protonated hydrogen clusters H n + (n=5,7,9,11,13 and 15).