Metal
clusters
One of our lines of research focuses on the properties of metallic clusters, Mn, where M is a metal atom and n ranges from 2 up to ~104. Some ongoing and recent projects:
- Strong pairing of electrons in nanoclusters with shell
structure
See USC News story: "These superconductors are just getting warmed up"
- Ionization of nanoparticles and its temperature dependence
- Cluster
evaporation
- Electron-cluster
collisions and capture
- Giant
optical resonances due to collective electron oscillations
- Electric
polarizabilities
- Long-range
polarization forces
Cluster beam apparatus
A beam of cluster particles is generated and flies through a series of vacuum chambers. While in flight, the clusters are subjected to various probes. Finally they pass through a mass spectrometer, which can be set to focus on a particular particle mass or to scan through a range of masses.
