ELECTRONIC SHELLS OR MOLECULAR-ORBITALS - PHOTOELECTRON-SPECTRA OF AG-N(-) CLUSTERS

Photoelectron spectra of Agn- clusters with n=1-21 recorded at different photon energies (hν=4.025, 4.66, 5.0, and 6.424 eV) are presented. Various features in the spectra of Ag2 --Ag9- can be assigned to electronic transitions predicted from quantum chemical ab initio calculations. While this comparison with the quantum chemical calculations yields a detailed and quantitative understanding of the electronic structure of each individual cluster, a discussion in terms of the shell model is able to explain trends and dominant patterns in the entire series of spectra up to Ag21 -. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.