THE OPTICAL-ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF SMALL SILVER CLUSTERS (N = 5-11) EMBEDDED IN ARGON MATRICES

The optical absorption of small mass selected Ag(n) clusters (n = 5, 7, 8, 9, 11) embedded in solid Ar has been measured. Strong absorption has been found between 3 and 4.5 eV. The absorption spectra show 1-3 major peaks depending on the cluster size. The width of these peaks is considerably smaller than commonly found in gas phase photodepletion experiments. A simple model based on a Drude metal, and neglecting the dielectric constant of the surrounding medium, gives satisfactory agreement with experiment.