An Effective Method of Producing Small Neutral Carbon Clusters

Abstract

An effective method of producing small neutral carbon clusters Cn(n = 1–6) is described. The small carbon clusters (positive ornegative charge or neutral) are formed by plasma which are produced bya high power 532 nm pulse laser ablating the surface of the metal Mn rodto react with small hydrocarbons supplied by a pulse valve, then theneutral carbon clusters are extracted and photo-ionized by anotherlaser (266 nm or 355 nm) in the ionization region of a lineartime-of-flight mass spectrometer. The distributions of the initialneutral carbon clusters are analysed with the ionic species appeared inmass spectra. It is observed that the yield of small carbon clusterswith the present method is about 10 times than that of the traditionalwidely used technology of laser vaporization of graphite.