Ion–Ion Collisions Involving Fullerene Ions

Abstract

Fullerenes are a direct link between atoms with discrete electronic energy levels and solids with a band structure and a well defined surface. In collision experiments, both between energetic ions or electrons and neutral C60 molecules [Walch, B.; Cocke, C.L.; Voelpel, R.; Salzborn, E. Electron capture from C60 by slow multiply charged ions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1994, 72, 1439–1442; Scheier, P.; Hathiramani, D.; Arnold, W.; Huber, K.; Salzborn, E. Multiple ionization and fragmentation of negatively charged fullerene ions by electron impact. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2000, 84, 55–58; Hathiramani, D.; Aichele, K.; Arnold, W.; Huber, K.; Salzborn, E.; Scheier, P. Electron‐impact induced fragmentation of fullerene ions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2000, 85, 3604–3607], as well as between charged fullerene ions and neutral targets [Hvelplund, P.; Andersen, L.; Haugen, H.; Lindhard, L.; Lorents, D.C.; Malhotra, R.; Rouff, R. Dynamical fragmentation of C60 ions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1992, 69, 1915–1918; Hvelplund, P.; Andersen, L.; Brink, C.; Yu, D.; Lorents, D.C.; Rouff, R. Charge transfer in collisions involving multiply charged C60 molecules. Z. Phys. D 1994, 30, 323; Rohmund, F.; Campbell, E.E.B. Resonant and non‐resonant charge transfer in C60 + + C60 and C70 + and C60 collisions. J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 1997, 30, 5293–5304; Shen, H.; Hvelplund, P.; Mathur, D.; Barany, A.; Cederquist, H.; Selberg, N.; Lorents, D.C. Fullerene–fullerene collisions: fragmentation and electron capture. Phys. Rev. A 1995, 52, 3847–3851], the fundamental processes of electron transfer, ionization, and fragmentation have been studied extensively. Here we report on our experiments on electron transfer in the collision systems C60 + + 3He2+ → C60 2+ + 3He+ and C60 + + C60 2+ → C60 2+ + C60 +. For the latter system we also report on an upper level for the fragmentation probability.