Disintegration of argon clusters in collisions with highly vibrationally excited SF6 molecules in crossed molecular and cluster beams

Abstract

It has been found that collisions of highly vibrationally excited SF6 molecules (with the vibrational energy E vib ≥ 0.5–2.0 eV) with Ar N clusters (where N ≤ 30–40 is the number of atoms in a cluster) in crossed molecular and cluster beams result in capture of molecules followed by complete disintegration of the clusters. Possible applications of the effect for selective doping of clusters with molecules, laser separation of isotopes, and selective transport of molecules to the surface are discussed.