DECOMPOSITION OF GASEOUS HYDROCARBONS IN A LASER-INDUCED PLASMA AS A NOVEL CARBONACEOUS SOURCE FOR CLUSTER FORMATION

Simple gaseous hydrocarbons included in a He carrier gas were decomposed in a laser-induced plasma on a graphite or silicon rod, which was found to be convenient for supplying carbonaceous species into the carrier gas for cluster formation. When a silicon rod was used, silicon-carbon mixed clusters and high-mass carbon clusters were produced. This fact implied that carbon clusters were formed via growth from smaller carbonaceous species. The mass distribution of carbon clusters was not dependent on the kind of the adopted hydrocarbons, which implied that the growth processes of the clusters were not appreciably influenced by the coexisting hydrocarbon gases. © 1990.