Identification of Silicon Clusters by Electron Diffraction Spectra

Abstract

By simulating the electron diffraction spectra (EDS) of medium-sized silicon clusters, we find that the features in the EDS are sensitive to the atomic structures of the clusters. This enables us to differentiate the different isomers of Si clusters effectively. Moreover, our calculations reveal that for a gas-phase system consisting of different Si isomers, the total electron diffraction spectra can be approximately expressed as a linear combination of the electron diffraction spectra of the individual isomers. Thus, we propose a scheme to determine the atomic structures of the individual isomers in a gas-phase product of silicon clusters.