C-60 INTERACTIONS WITH SURFACES, GASEOUS SPECIES AND PHOTONS - AN OVERVIEW

The behavior of C60 in collisions with surfaces, with other gaseous species, and with photons is discussed. The focus is on the processes leading to fragmentation of the molecule, the identification of fragmentation products, and the mechanism of fragmentation. The nature of the fragmentation process of C60 is of considerable interest in itself and needs to be understood in detail if C60 cluster ion beams are to be fully exploited technologically. In addition, one may anticipate that an understanding of C60 fragmentation will contribute mutatis mutandis to an elucidation of the elementary steps leading to the assembly of C60 from smaller carbon clusters.