Stability patterns of multiphoton ionized YAun clusters

Abstract

Binary Y m Au n metal clusters (m ≤ 5, n ≤ 65) are produced by a laser vaporization source. The clusters are ionized and excited by multiphoton absorption (E hv = 6.4 eV) and mass abundance spectra were taken by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The mass spectra of the YAu n ions reveal distinct intensity steps at n = 2, 6, 16, 32, and 56 which correspond for n > 2 to the well known electronic shell model, provided that the yttrium atom contributes three free electrons to the metallic binding of the gold clusters.