Metal-carbon clusters: The origin of the delayed atomic ion

Studies of the emission of electrons from excited metal-carbon cluster systems that include the Met-Car (M8C12, where M is Ti, Zr, and V) also have revealed the evolution of a delayed atomic ion. The source of the delayed atomic ion, which involves the emission of ionized atoms on the microsecond time scale, is the focus of this investigation. By studying the delayed ionization of mixed zirconium and titanium carbon complexes produced in a laser vaporization source coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, for the first time both the zirconium and titanium delayed atomic ions were observed to be emitted in the same experiment. These studies allowed a determination that the source of the delayed atomic ion is an excited metal dicarbide. A plausible mechanism involving the excitation of a high Rydberg state of the metal dicarbide prior to an excited ion pair separation is proposed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.