Two-electron emission after photoexcitation of metal-cluster dianions

Abstract

Size-selected metal-cluster dianions of the elements gold, silver and copper have been photoexcited by nanosecond-pulse and continuous laser irradiation, which leads to electron emission and monomer evaporation. In addition to the observation of these competing decay pathways, there is a reduction of the total cluster-ion intensity, which indicates the neutralization of dianions, i.e. the loss of both surplus electrons. In contrast, the activation of singly charged anionic clusters of the same type results primarily in dissociation by monomer evaporation and not by electron emission. These decay processes as observed for doubly and singly charged cluster anions suggest that the dianions emit two electrons simultaneously, i.e. in a correlated fashion. A classical conducting-sphere approximation confirms that the Coulomb barrier for symmetric two-electron emission is lower than the Coulomb barrier for the emission of a single electron. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.