Abstract

The remarkable progress in the area of supersonic beam techniques¹ provides the basis for the exciting field of the physics of clusters which bridge the gap between molecules and condensed matter. For many years, the characterization of cluster beams (size distribution as a function of the relevant expansion parameters etc.), the geometrical structure and the stability of clusters were investigated. Among others, "magic numbers" in clusters size distributions were found² as well as structural units which are not compatible with translational symmetry of a solid³. More recently, the photoionization of clusters⁴ including photoion-photoelectron coincidence experiments⁵ was successfully attacked.

© 1988 Optical Society of America