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      Ionization potentials of MgN (N = 7-56) clusters formed by spontaneous collapse of magnesium foam in helium nanodroplets.

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          Abstract

          The ionization potentials of magnesium clusters (MgN, N = 7-56) are determined by doping ultracold helium nanodroplets (HeM, M ≈ 52 000) with Mg atoms. Inspecting the particle size distributions resulting from non-resonant, short-wavelength, single-photon ionization gives evidence that beyond a certain ensemble size, the developing foam structure undergoes a spontaneous collapse on the way to the laser interaction region. As a result, hot Mg clusters form in the relaxation process. The spontaneous collapse manifests in a substantial change in the size distributions, when recording mass spectra at wavelengths shorter than 272 nm. Tracing individual MgN signals as a function of laser photon energy allows extraction of size-specific ionization potentials, which for small clusters show a good agreement with results obtained from density functional theory simulations. The further development is compared to calculations based on the liquid drop model. However, even when quantum effects are included, the simple scaling law is not able to reproduce the development of the ionization potentials. The results suggest that small neutral magnesium clusters behave as non-metallic. The comparison to electron affinities and band gaps obtained from photoemission experiments on MgN- provides information on the charge state dependence of the non-metal-to-metal transition and properties like the Mulliken electron negativity.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Phys Chem Chem Phys
          Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
          Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
          1463-9084
          1463-9076
          Oct 05 2022
          : 24
          : 38
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Institute of Physics, University of Rostock, 18059, Rostock, Germany. josef.tiggesbaeumker@uni-rostock.de.
          [2 ] Department "Life, Light and Matter", University of Rostock, 18059, Rostock, Germany.
          Article
          10.1039/d2cp03075f
          36134466
          1e76849e-f6f5-4925-b431-7a9548096f08
          History

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